Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days
by Hero Slayer
Summary: The wheel of fate is derailed as Emiya Shirou is brought up in Uminari City. Watch the birth of a Magical Hero as the boy with a body of swords meets the White Devil.
1. Chapter 1: A Mysterious Encounter

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

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><p>The Wheel of Fate is fickle. It is engrained deeply into the world, many times unyielding and other times changed by a single pebble.<p>

A boy is born in Fuyuki City and years later reborn within flames. The boy is burned away and the image of a Hero is burned deep into his soul. Emiya Shirou was created on that day.

But he will not be the same Emiya Shirou as we know him.

Fate is changed when Emiya Kiritsugu leaves Fuyuki city. The man is tired and his body weary. He has done what he could to stop the Holy Grail from ever appearing again, but he no longer wishes to remain in this city where he is constantly reminded of his failures, the death of his lover, and the betrayal of his own ideals. So he leaves the city and doesn't return. He takes the little boy that he pulled from the fires that he created far away from the scorched earth that he found him in.

So Emiya Shirou does not grow up in Fuyuki City. He finds solace in the fact that he is leaving behind who he was and that his new life as Emiya Shirou can be finally start.

And yet, despite the change in setting there is no change to the boy's dream. So even in this new city, the boy's ideals stay the same. The boy yearns to be a Hero, to emulate the man that had pulled him out of the fire.

The father leaves constantly in his quest to find the daughter that he promised to return to.

The boy waits and thrives in the new city.

The years pass until Shirou is nine years old.

And so the Wheel of Fate turns down this new path. A distorted boy with the ambition to be a Hero a boy whose fate is normally filled with hardship and trials. His future is filled with swords and battles. On the other side is the cheerful girl that is searching for her niche in life. The role that she will find will eventually take her beyond the stars themselves. The day these two cross is the day where the Fate of several change.

Where will this track of destiny take us?

Let's take a peek, shall we?

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><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter One: **

**A Mysterious Encounter. A Magus, a Magical Girl, and a Talking Ferret?**

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><p><em>A white room without blemishes or dirt, the kind of room that is clean to the point of sterility, that is the kind of room that I woke up in. The clean room filled me with an odd sense of comfort. I looked around. The room was big and I saw a lot of beds filled with different people. Most of them are like me, children that are covered in bandages and hooked up to machines.<em>

_But there is no sense of pain or death. The danger is gone. Everyone in this room had been hurt, but now they are healing. These people were safe. I was safe._

_I relaxed and let my eyes wander around the room. My sight eventually fell to the window against the wall, or rather what's outside the window. The sky looked so beautiful. My eyes were captivated with the bright blue sky that seemed to go on forever. _

_It was so different than what I remembered._

_It took me a few days, but I eventually recalled what had happened to me._

_There had been a terrible fire, one that had consumed the city, or a small part of the city. I had been saved and I was in the hospital recovering. _

_Just me. _

_My parents, my family were gone. They had died in the fire. The situation didn't make sense to me at the time, but there was some part of me that understood. I was alone now. I like to think that I understood that fact quickly, that I absorbed the knowledge a bit faster than the rest of the children that surrounded me._

_But after that, when I had accepted the fact that I was alone, when thoughts of what would happen to me filled me with panic and worry, that man came. He came the day my bandages came off. An unkempt man that was dressed in a wrinkled coat. This was the first time I spoke to Emiya Kiritsugu._

_"Hello. You must be Shirou."_

_A smile that seemed to reflect the sunlight streaming through the window. His voice sounded a bit odd, but I thought it was a very kind voice._

_This was the man that offered to adopt me. He looked like a man with no future, but it was either him or the orphanage. So when he asked, I decided to go with him. He seemed happy with the choice and messily began to pack up my stuff._

_"Ah, I forgot to mention something important. I have to tell you one thing before you come with me. Is that okay?" He turned to me and lightheartedly and said, "Yeah, to start off with. I'm a sorcerer." _

_He said it in such a serious and exaggerated tone. _

_Honestly, I was really a child back then. I automatically believed those words. Maybe it was the way he said it or the expression on his face, but I didn't doubt the man for a second. It was that single instant that it happened._

_"Wow, you're awesome." I looked up at the amazing man in front of me._

_This moment was the catalyst. It was probably as I said those words that my path was set. If I could use magic, I could be like this man who saved me._

_Ever since that day I had been that man's son. I even took up his name, Emiya._

_Emiya Shirou. Just hearing the sound of that used to bring a smile to my lips. Just the sheer fact that I shared his name brought me joy. This was the man I would chase for the rest of my life._

…

"Emiya-kun, Wake up!"

The loud shout along with the startling noise of a ruler crashing down on a desk sent Emiya Shirou out of his dream and back into the real world. It also had the side effect of scaring the boy so much that he threw his body backwards much too quickly for his chair to catch and keep on four legs. For a moment, the boy is suspended in the air with a look of horror and surprise on his face.

"Wah!"

The moment ends and the chair tips.

Crash!

The nine year old boy toppled over and even managed to catch the desk behind him with the back of his head. The entire class winced in unison before laughing at the boy's misfortune.

"Ow…" Shirou whined as he rubbed the back of his head. He looked up from his position on the ground and saw his teacher standing over him with an angry expression on her face.

"A…ahahaha… Good morning, Sensei." He laughed sheepishly before resigning himself to the lecture that the teacher was going to give him.

The nine year old found himself standing in the corner of the classroom holding the punishment sign that had the words 'I Slept in Class' on it. He took the time to reflect on the dream he just had. It had been a while since he had dreamed of his first meeting with his adoptive father, or anything else that had to do with Fuyuki City.

"Hmm." Shirou yawned and fiddled with the sign around his neck. "Maybe I need to get a better sleeping schedule."

He had stayed up all night practicing the Reinforcement magic that Kiritsugu had showed him. He had gotten the basics of forging a Magic Circuit for the magic, but he still hadn't succeeded at properly Reinforcing an object.

Shirou felt a sudden weight fall on his shoulders as he recalled his failure. He had been progressing so well lately too. His ability to analyze objects was top notch, if useless from what Kiritsugu had told him, and he had been able to successfully create a magic circuit with nearly a hundred percent success lately. Yet every time he tried to Reinforce an object he seemed to fail. Shirou felt like he was going nowhere lately and that was depressing.

"Shirou!" The boy straightened up at his teacher's voice. "Just because you're in the corner doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention. Now, why don't you tell the class what you plan on being in the future."

Shirou nodded and smiled brightly at his teacher. The nine year old red head knew exactly what he was going to be in the future. His path had been set the day he had been taken in by Kiritsugu, no, it was set the day he had been saved from that fire.

"I'm going to be an Ally of Justice, a Hero." Shirou told the teacher. It was a baseless claim, but the boy said it completely seriously.

The class stayed silent for a moment at the boy's words before the dam broke. The entire class rang out with laughter and even the teacher giggled at the boy's enthusiasm for what they thought was a fictional profession.

"An Ally of Justice? Is he joking?" One of his classmates asked the person next to him.

"I don't think so. Emiya isn't the type to joke around." The girl giggled. "He honestly thinks he can be a super hero."

Shirou paid the laughter no mind and ignored the teacher's words about choosing a serious profession. He was used to the laughter and disbelief from other people. They didn't understand the world that Shirou wanted to live in.

…

"You should have taken that project seriously, Shirou-san."

Shirou looked up from his lunch to see his normal lunch companions. The three girls, Nanoha Takamachi, Alisa Bannings, and Suzuka Tsukimura were probably the cutest girls in their grade. They had a tendency to hang around each other and all three were pretty popular. Shirou spent a fair amount of time with the trio. Nanoha was his first friend and she had a tendency to drag him with her. The other two girls liked Shirou enough and he quickly became part of their little group.

"Ah, I am taking it seriously Suzuka-san." Shirou responded and clenched a fist tightly. The fires of his passions burned brightly behind him. "I'm going to be a Hero of Justice and save people."

"Ah, what is with our group? First Nanoha doesn't give an answer at all to the assignment then you give this joke of a speech on being a comic book hero." Alisa sighed as she pressed a hand to her forehead.

"I think that Alisa-chan and Suzuka-chan are more amazing for knowing what they want to do." Nanoha sighed and tried to think of what she would do in her future. So far none of the choices that were presented to her seemed right.

"Ah that's right." Shirou nodded and recalled that while most of the class had vague answers for their future or simply put they were undecided both Alisa and Suzuka had concrete answers for their future. "Alisa-san is going to succeed her parents and Suzuka-san is planning to become an engineer, right?"

Suzuka nodded and smiled at the boy. "Yes. I like machines and such so I thought it would be nice to go into engineering."

Shirou looked over to Nanoha who looked to be deep in thought. "What about you, Nanoha. Are you going to take over the Midoriya?" He said referring to the café that the Takamachi owned.

"Yes, that's one option." The girl sighed and stared into the distance. "But I feel like there's something else out there that's more suited for me. I just wish I knew what that thing was."

Shirou took another bite of his lunch box before attempting to reassure the girl. "I'm sure you'll find it eventually." It was unrealistic to find the path you wanted to take at such a young age. Or so Kiritsugu told him whenever he said he wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Suzuka nodded and smiled at the girl. "Yes, you shouldn't take this decision lightly. I'm sure you'll find the path that fits you best." Seeing Shirou agree with her, she turned to the boy and frowned at him in disappointment. "That goes for you too Shirou-san. You shouldn't joke around about your future."

"I'm not joking. I'm going to be a Hero." Shirou retorted with complete confidence. Both Alisa and Suzuka sighed at the boy's stubbornness while Nanoha giggled at all of them.

"Being a hero isn't an occupation you idiot!" Alisa shouted at him. The boy was always so stubborn about things like this. Sure if you ask him to help you with something he'll agree right away, but if you debate the way things worked the boy would dig his heels into the ground.

"Says you." Shirou pouted when he realized that none of the three were taking his future ambition seriously. He really couldn't blame them. They didn't know that people like Kiritsugu were out there saving people. He was chasing after an entirely different world. "There are plenty of Heroes out there."

"Argh, I give up!" Alisa threw her arms in the air. There was no way to convince Shirou when he got like this.

The conversation eventually turned to other subjects and Shirou spent the rest of the lunch period in idle conversation with the girls. Shirou didn't really contribute too much as he was more occupied with his own dreams. The boy somehow completely missed the scuffle Nanoha and Alisa got into until Suzuka asked him to help calm the two down. It eventually degenerated into a three way wrestling match with Shirou valiantly attempting to stop the struggle.

Needless to say, Nanoha won.

…

"Hurry up Shirou!" Shirou wasn't really sure which of the girls had shouted that, but he quickened his pace just the same.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Shirou rolled his eyes but smiled as the girls ran ahead of him. He adjusted the strap on a duffle bag to a more comfortable position and jogged after the girls.

The Takamachi family had been kind enough to give him lessons on swordsmanship after school. He would get lessons from Nanoha's older siblings in exchange for helping out at the store every now and then as well as escorting the girls to their cram school lessons.

It was a daily habit and they passed the time with mostly idly chatter. How the school was boring or what homework they had. Sometimes there would be a story about something that happened at school or a problem that some student had.

Today it seemed like the girls wanted to take a short cut through the woods. Shirou had protested lightly stating that it could be dangerous, but it didn't take much for the three girls to convince him. The three girls had a lot of practice with convincing Shirou to do something against his will and had gotten very good at it.

He really needed to learn how to say 'no' one of these days. He did not really mind helping people, but the girls really seemed to take advantage of his easy going nature. His thoughts were broken when he bumped into someone.

"Ack." Shirou looked up to see that Nanoha had stopped in the middle of the path. The girl looked distracted and she was staring at something in the distance. "Nanoha?"

"Didn't you hear that?" Nanoha tilted her head and tried to find the source of the sound.

"Hear what?" Shirou looked around for any noise. He hadn't been paying much attention to their surroundings. Before he could even try to locate the noise, Nanoha had taken off into the woods. "Oi, Nanoha!"

Shirou chased after the girl and cursed as she started edging away from his line of sight. He normally would have no problem keeping up with the girl but weighted down by his kendo bag the boy had a hard time keeping up with her.

"It came from over here!" Nanoha called back to them. She pointed out a small clearing in the woods.

Shirou picked up his pace and silently wished he could just magic himself over there. When he reached the clearing he looked around for any sign of a person hurt or in danger, but the clearing was empty. "Nanoha, I don't see anyone."

"Ah…" Nanoha stepped in front of Shirou and knelt down on the floor. In front of her was a ferret curled up on the ground. Judging from its beat up appearance the thing had been injured somehow. Shirou sighed and mentally yelled at himself for feeling disappointed. It was better if no one was hurt after all.

"N-nanoha, Shirou-san, why did you start running like that?" Both Alisa and Suzuka had caught up to the two of them. At the sight of the wounded animal both of the girls joined Nanoha and started cooing over it. "It's injured. We need to take it a hospital, no a vet."

Shirou sighed as the girls started panicking over what to do with the ferret and took charge. He reached into his kendo bag for some soft material and found an extra shirt that he used it to wrap the ferret in and keep it warm.

As he picked up the ferret and wrapped it in the shirt his hand brushed over the red gem that hung on its collar. A small shock rushed through up Shirou's arm and he paused for a moment. He stared at the animal intently before brushing it off as nothing. "Come on, there should be a vet around here somewhere, right?"

Alisa pulled out her cell phone. Shirou guessed that the girl had a map or something on the thing as she nodded and started running in a direction. "There's one over in this direction." She shouted back to them.

Shirou adjusted his kendo bag before running after him. A stray thought went through his head. Magic was real after all, why couldn't magical animals be real too? He gave the ferret one curious look that quickly shifted over to Nahoha as he recalled her saying she heard something. Maybe there was something special about it after all.

…

The key to success is both a strong mind and a strong body. Those words were spoken to him by Kiritsugu Emiya.

When Shirou had finally gotten Kiritsugu to agree to teach him magic the first thing they did was exercise. It didn't make much sense to Shirou until later, but the key to using magic was not only studying hard but also having a sturdy body too. Shirou wasn't really sure how their exercises turned into Kendo sparring, but learning swordsmanship had become something of a hobby for the child.

When Kiritsugu first left on one of his many trips, Shirou found himself without a sparring partner. He had tried to join the school's Kendo club, but he felt that the club was too rigid and that the sport based swords style was too gentle for his tastes. So he had looked for any dojo in the area to join. His search had been rather fruitless until he made his displeasure known in class. Nanoha had told him that both her brother and sister practiced a family style and Shirou had immediately latched onto the girl and begged her to ask them to teach him. Oddly enough, they had agreed.

So Shirou spent several days in the week training with one of the Tachamichi family after school. It had started out as Miyuki teaching him, but sometimes Kyouya came in to teach him instead.

It was something that Shirou himself enjoyed. Both Kyouya and Miyuki were extremely good at swordsmanship and in the years that Shirou had been studying under them, not once had he scored a point on either of them.

Shirou gasped for breath as he frantically blocked a flurry of attacks. His hands were covered with sweat and his practice sword grew heavier with every block and every swing. He attempted to twist away from his assailant for a breather but stumbled in mid movement. His opponent was not going to let such a mistake go unpunished..

"You're open!" His teacher called out before applying his own practice sword to Shirou's head.

"Gah!" Shirou fell on the ground and dropped his practice sword in favor of holding his head with his hands. Beneath his hands was the start of a small bruise. If you looked closer you would see several similar bruises on his arms and there was no doubt there were several bruises on the boy's body underneath the protective gear. "Owowow…Not again."

Kyouya sighed but couldn't help the amused smile on his face. When Nanoha had first asked him to train a friend of hers from school, he had been skeptic at best. But Shirou had already learned the basics from Kiritsugu and he was an attentive student, so the training continued. The boy was almost unnaturally determined to become strong but there were moments like this in the middle of training that showed the boy's age. In the middle of battle the boy's focus was unbreakable, but the moment the battle was over the boy had no qualms about complaining, politely of course.

Shirou still had unrealistic dreams of killer sword techniques that could defeat an opponent in a single move.

"I think we've done today Shirou." Kyouya tossed the boy a water bottle and chuckled as Shirou greedily drained the entire thing. "You seem a bit distracted, any reason why?"

Shirou finished his water and shook his head. "It's nothing. I-" Shirou paused in the middle of his statement. What was bothering him? They had dropped the ferret off at a vet and the girls went off to cram school. Then Shirou had left for his lesson from Kyouya, but he couldn't concentrate. There was nothing that should have bothered him and yet here he was, completely distracted from his training.

Kyouya dismissed Shirou for the day and told him to come back when his mind was clearer. Shirou protested but Kyouya was adamant. He slowly made his way back home in a dour mood.

The boy dragged his feet on the road. He didn't really have much to look forward to. Kiritsugu was out on another errand for a few days. He probably had another night spent practicing his Magecraft and failing as usual.

After a short walk artificially made long, he arrived home.

The Emiya residence in Uminari city was a far cry from the traditional estate that Shirou vaguely remembered when Kiritsugu first adopted him. A two story western style house, the Emiya residence was no different than any other house on the block. The only difference between Shirou's home and the rest was the subtle Boundary Field that surrounded the house. It was something that Kiritsugu had built as soon as they moved in. The Boundary Field was a warning system that alerted any of the users if someone entered the area with violent intentions.

"I'm home." Shirou's voice echoed throughout the empty house before he tossed his bag in the corner of the living room. There was no reply of 'Welcome Home' or 'How was your day?' but Shirou never expected an answer. He had grown used to the act of returning to an empty home and even the few times Kiritsugu was home he rarely answered the call back without some prompting.

He gave a brief thought of how his father was doing before turning his attention to the kitchen. He wanted to try a new spin on a recipe and it would require his entire attention if he was to get it right.

…

The room that Shirou sat in was Spartan at best. The only objects in the room were a single desk covered in papers, Shirou himself and a single pipe. Magecraft was a dangerous practice and at his current level, Shirou couldn't afford any distractions. A single mistake could cripple him for life at best or even kill him at worst.

It was a lesson that Shirou quickly learned. To learn Magecraft is to walk with death.

Shirou placed a hand over the pipe and began.

Inhale

Focus, clear your thoughts.

Exhale

Empty your mind.

Inhale

Slowly forge the magic circuit.

Exhale

It has to be perfect, or else the nerves that are the materials for the circuit with burn out too early.

Inhale

A rush of heat invades Shirou's body, almost as if someone shoved a blowtorch into his spine and replaced the blood in his veins with lava. His head grew heavy as he pushed past the pain.

A forced exhale through clenched teeth

The Magic Circuit, the spiritual pipeline that would channel his magical energy, was in place. Shirou had already scanned the pipe with Structural Analysis earlier so he knew exactly where he needed to push his Od into.

Inhale. The oxygen is greedily sucked into the boy's body as he strained to push what little magic he could into the object that he held in his hands. The magical energy would fill in the 'gaps' in the material and strengthen it as well as increase any attributes the object held.

Reinforcement Complete

Shirou let out the breath he had been holding and fell backwards onto his back. His breathing was labored and his face flushed with exhaustion. His entire body felt heavy like he had run a marathon but his elation at success overran any pain or exhaustion.

The magus in training struggled back up into a sitting position and looked down at the Reinforced pipe. The feelings of pride and success were quickly dashed when his eyes fell on the pipe.

He had been able to push Od into the pipe, but the pipe hadn't been able to take the amount of magical energy, Prana he reminded himself, that was pushed into it. The pipe had warped and twisted and there were parts of the pipe that were completely fractured.

Shirou just stared at the broken pipe for a moment before falling back onto his back. "Damn…" He felt his eyes grow heavy and Emiya Shirou fell asleep contemplating another failure.

_'…elp…'_

"Huh?"

_'So…one…hel…me…'_

Shirou groaned and slowly roused himself. He opened his eyes and gazed around the room in confusion. The house was empty and Kiritsugu wouldn't be home for another few days. So where was that voice coming from?

Before he could dismiss the voice as something from his dream, it rang out again. _'Hurry, someone come and help!'_

Any trace of sleep was brushed aside when Shirou heard that cry. The boy froze and looked around for the source of the voice. It was coming from some where outside!

He ran out of his house as the voice continued to cry out for help, only pausing to grab his wooden practice sword. He ran out into the streets and followed his instinct as the voice echoed in his head. When the voice grew more frantic, Shirou picked up the pace until he reached the source.

"This is…" He had been to this building earlier this afternoon. This was the vet where they had dropped off the ferret Nanoha found. His magical senses were still new but even he could feel the sheer amount of magical energy pulsing out of the building. It was a surprise that no one else had felt something and came to investigate.

"Shirou?" A familiar voice called out from behind him. Shirou spun around and stared at the speaker in complete bewilderment.

"Nanoha? What are you doing here?" It was pretty late at night and there wasn't any reason for the girl to be out here. She was in here pajamas too. But before he could get any answers from the girl the building behind him shuttered as if struck. Both of the children turned around to stare at the building in confusion.

CRASH!

The wall of the building exploded and sent pieces of shrapnel everywhere. Without any hesitation, Shirou immediately threw himself in front of Nanoha to protect her.

When the dust had settled both of them looked up and saw the creator of the explosion. In front of the nine year olds were two things. The first was the ferret they had found and dropped off at the vet. That was fine. He had thought that the animal was a bit different anyways.

It was the other being that was confusing. A black ball of darkness that looked almost like a solid cloud of black cotton with a demonic face on it flew out of the building.

Both of the children stared at the sight of a small rodent being attacked by a magic cloud of darkness for a moment before Shirou snapped out of his shock. "Did… did I just see a magic black fur ball attack a ferret?"

Shirou's question was directed more to the air than anyone, but Nanoha nodded none the less. The girl's shock was quickly replaced with worry and shock as she remembered what was going on.

"Ah, we have to help Ferret-san!" Before he could stop her, Nanoha ran over and picked up the ferret. Shirou swore as he saw the monster dove down for another attack. Shirou darted in front of the two of them and swung his practice sword before the thing could get to them. The strike was a solid one and knocked the monster back. It quickly reoriented itself and roared at the boy that was in its way. The monster rushed at the boy this time much faster than before.

Shirou raised his sword up to block the strike and felt the monster connect with the wooden blade, but the sheer force of the monster's attack sent him flying across the street. He hit the ground and rolled a few feet before stopping.

"Guh…" Shirou struggled to his feet and look down at his practice blade. His strike hadn't done anything? No, his strike simply was too light. He just needed to hit it harder or find a weak point.

The monster roared and decided to destroy the annoying one that struck it first. It spiraled into the sky and dove down to crush the small boy with it's with body.

Shirou saw the thing falling and dove away. The monster shot back into the sky again and attempted to crush the boy several times, only for the boy to dive away before it could strike. Finally it stopped on the ground and shot horizontally at the boy rather than from the sky.

That was just what Shirou was hoping for. The boy rushed forward at the monster to meet the monster's charge. He would meet the monster head on with his strongest strike.

"Ahhh!"

Well, he would have met it if it wasn't for the distraction. A flash of pink light flared out to the side of them. The monster froze at the sight of the light and stopped in mid air. This left Shirou, who was completely committed to his attack, to miss and smash his sword into the ground. The boy tumbled from overextending but quickly rushed back to his feet to stare at the light in amazement.

"What is that…?" He whispered. It felt completely different than the power that was coming out of the monster. The light faded quickly and left Nanoha standing there confused clutching a staff and in a new dress. "Nanoha?"

The monster roared at the new threat that actually posed a danger to it and rose into the air for another charge. It shot down at the girl causing her to flinch. Shirou swore as he realized that he was too far to knock her out of the way or block the strike. "Nanoha!"

A flare of power once again flooded over Shirou's senses as a pink barrier appeared in front of Nanoha. The monster struggled to smash through like it had with Shirou's guard but the barrier held. The rebound of the force threw the monster backwards and caused it to explode into several gooey pieces.

"Eh…" Shirou couldn't believe his eyes. That was definitely magic. Nanoha Takamachi had just used magic. Ridiculously strong magic at that if the shiver that went down his spine meant anything.

Before Shirou could ask her what was going on, he saw something in the corner of his sight. The pieces of the monsters were moving together and reassembling themselves again.

"What does it take to kill this thing?" Shirou pulled his sword up for another strike when something spoke to his side.

"We're not going to kill it. We need to seal it." Shirou looked at the source of the voice and saw the ferret from earlier.

"It… can talk…" Shirou smiled and pointed at it with a triumphant expression on his face. "I knew it, you are a magical animal!"

"His name is Yuuno and this is his staff." Nanoha giggled at Shirou's excitement as she gestured to the staff in her hands.

"Alright, so how do we seal it?" Shirou got to the point. He wanted to ask several questions but he knew his priorities. Beat the monster and then came the cool explanations for what's going on. He didn't possess anywhere near the magical ability to seal something like a monster.

"Nanoha can do it. She just needs some time to figure it out." Yuuno's answer was calm despite the fact that they were fighting a monster at the moment.

Shirou frowned for a moment but quickly came to a decision. "Alright then I'll distract it while she does that."

"No you won't. It's too dangerous." Nanoha was quick to reject his offer but Shirou grinned at her.

"Come on Nanoha. What kind of Hero would I be if I left you to face this thing alone?" After he said that the boy looked down at the wooden practice sword in his hands. The wooden sword was worn and he could see a crack developing from the single hit that the monster had connected with. It wouldn't be enough to fight a monster. He would need something better. A determined expression crossed Shirou's face. "And you're not the only one that can do magic either Nanoha."

"Eh?" Both Nanoha and Yuuno looked at him in confusion.

"Don't worry about it." Shirou waved them off and ran to confront the reforming monster.

Shirou knew that Magecraft in this kind of situation would be suicide. He could barely form a Magic Circuit in an ideal environment let alone a battle situation, but he didn't really have much choice. Shirou braced himself before declaring his aria.

"Trace… On!" Fire flooded into Shirou's veins once more as he hastily formed a Magic Circuit.

He ignored the familiar pain and tried to estimate how much the wooden sword could take without using Structural Analysis for an extended period of time. The blueprint of the practice blade formed in an instant. The shape of the wood, the miniscule cracks that were unseen to the naked eye and even the polish were all mapped out in a single moment. Od flooded through Shirou's crudely constructed Magic Circuit and into the blade itself. The Od rushed into the blade and made it stronger, Reinforcing the structure of the practice sword done to its basic elements.

Finally the intense moment was over and the fire faded from his veins. Shirou shakily looked up to see that the monster had finished reassembling itself. It dove down at him. Well trained instincts sent the boy rolling to the side just in time to dodge the blow. The monster's attack drove a crater into the ground but it quickly shot out of the dust cloud that it created.

Shirou didn't think. He just acted. He tightened his grip on his sword and rushed forward at the monster. It would all come down to this. If he succeeded he would win, if he failed then the sword would break and the monster would kill him. It was simple as that. No other thoughts were necessary.

Shirou jumped up and swung at the monster before it could recover and strike again. The wooden practice sword smashed into the monster and roughly carved through the black substance that it was made of.

Shirou landed on his feet and looked down at his practice sword in amazement. "I can't believe it…" He whispered. A normal wooden sword would have never been able to do that. It would have broken under the pressure of that kind of blow but the wooden practice sword didn't have any new cracks on it. That meant that he had succeeded! He had used proper Magecraft for the first time!

"Shirou, look out!"

The mental celebration that Shirou was planning on having was cut short as the monster roared again and reformed itself. It rocketed down in another rush. Caught off guard, Shirou wasn't able to dodge in time and twisted around to block.

The strike knocked the practice sword backward into Shirou's body and knocked him across the area once more. His aided flight was interrupted by the wall of the animal clinic. He slid down the wall and curled into a ball in pain. The initial strike hadn't been that bad, but hitting the wall had hurt a lot.

"Ugh…" The Magus in training pressed a hand to his and winced when the light pressure caused pain. "That didn't work as well as I hoped."

"Jewel Seed Seal!" Nanoha's voice calling out was a relief to the boy as he had no idea how he was going to keep the thing busy for another second.

Shirou watched in amazement from the wall as the staff that Nanoha held sent pink ribbons made of magic out and wrapped them around the monster. The beast roared one last desperate roar as it struggled against its bonds. Then it froze as the Roman numeral for twenty one lit up between its eyes and it dissolved.

"That…was pretty cool." Shirou admitted to himself. When he heard that Nanoha had to seal it, he had to admit he was expecting worse. A lot of posing and girly backgrounds, not chains of magic and a cool light show.

A small jewel dropped to the ground. Shirou picked himself up and slowly made his way to the jewel and watched as Nanoha poked it with the staff. The jewel glowed for a moment before disappearing into the staff.

"Receipt number twenty one." The staff spoke in a rather mechanical voice as it lit up the Roman numeral to match the number it just spoke.

"The staff talks?" Shirou looked over at the device in curiosity. He knew that magic was out there, but so far all he knew about was Magecraft. He knew that powerful artifacts and Mystic Codes could be enchanted with intelligence but he had never seen one before. He would have asked more questions but a small noise at his feet caused him to look down at the collapsed ferret.

"Yuuno!" Nanoha ran over to the small animal. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Yuuno reassured the girl. "We should get out of here before we're noticed though."

"Ah…" Shirou flinched when he heard sirens approaching the area. Magic was to be kept a secret. That was another lessons that Kiritsugu had taught him. "We should go, like right now."

"Ah…" The staff that Nanoha was holding disappeared along with the new dress she was wearing leaving Nanoha back in her pajamas. "Right, let's run!"

Shirou grabbed Nanoha's wrist and took off. The both of them ran for a while until they entered a park. Since it was so late the entire park was empty. Shirou stopped to catch his breath. The adrenaline from the battle was starting to fade and he could feel his ribs strain when he breathed too deeply.

After catching their breath, the two of them along with Yuuno sat down on a bench to talk.

"Alright." Shirou loomed over Yuuno and resisted the urge to poke him a few times. "So you're magical?"

"Well yes." Yunno paused to get comfortable. "It's a long explanation but first. I am sorry for getting you involved in this."

Shirou waved off his apology. "Don't worry about it. This kind of thing is what I've been training for."

"Oh." Nanoha thought of something and paused to introduce them. "My name is Takamachi Nanoha and this is Emiya Shirou."

Yunno gave a small bow. This looked a little cute since it was a small ferret doing the bowing. "I am Yuuno Scrya. I am glad to make your acquaintance." He introduced himself.

"As for me and that monster." Yuuno paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "It's my fault. I was the one to find them so I am the one responsible for collecting them again. They are called Jewel Seeds."

Shirou listened intently as the ferret began his explanation. He had learned quickly that not paying attention during important explanations was dangerous. He had fallen asleep during a lecture from Kiritsugu about forming Magic Circuits and when he tried to fill in the blanks by himself… well… let's just say that he learned his lesson.

"My clan and I are archeologists." Yuuno continued, a little nervous at the attention that Shirou was paying him. "It was on a dig that I found them. They are part of an ancient civilization, and particular artifacts of this classification are called Lost Logia. The Jewel Seeds are believed to be capable of granting wishes, but as that creature showed, they can have far different effects."

"So someone wished for that creature?" Nanoha asked as he tilted her head. Who would wish for a giant dust bunny?

"Not exactly. We don't really know what their original purpose was. But they run on desires. So if there is no one around when they activate, their effects are random and unpredictable. So it was decided that it would be best to have them sealed and stored." Yuuno curled up in Nanoha's lap and continued. "Instead they were scattered across this world during transit. I was the one that found them, so I am going to be the one to seal them back up. I just need to rest first. I just need a few days.

"We'll help." Nanoha smiled. "Right Shirou?"

Shirou nodded. "Of course. We can't leave something like the Jewel Seeds out in the open where they can hurt people. Anyways…" Shirou scratched the side of his cheek. "I kinda want to see more of your magic anyways."

"You can't." Yuuno shot to his feet. "It's my responsibility!"

"And you're in no shape for monster hunting." Shirou frowned. It was a little selfish, but he wanted to do this. He wanted to be a Hero. So he wasn't about to accept the ferret's reasons so easily. "We can't just leave them alone. People'll get hurt."

"Right!" Nanoha nodded. Then she remembered something and turned to Shirou. "Ah that's right. Shirou, what did you do earlier when you cut the monster?"

Shirou blinked and then remembered that he had Reinforced his sword. He had done Magecraft!

Yuuno paused in his attempts to persuade these two from doing this and looked at the boy. "That's right. I don't think a wooden sword would have done that much damage to a construct even if it was unstable. You mentioned magic before, but I did not see anything resembling magic."

"Race on. I think." Nanoha tilted her head at the odd English phrase.

"Ah…ahaha…" Shirou laughed nervously before sighing. "It's 'Trace On.' It's my personal aria for Magecraft."

"Magecraft?" Both Nanoha and Yuuno repeated in confusion.

"Yes. I Reinforced the sword with my Magecraft." Shirou nodded. "I am one who uses Magecraft. I am a magus."

"Magus… I didn't know that Earth had magic users." Yuuno stared at the boy curiously before making a decision. "Shirou, would you mind holding Raising Heart."

"Huh?" Shirou blinked when Nanoha handed him the red gem that used to hang around Yuuno's neck. He rolled the gem with his fingers for a moment before he felt something odd. Shirou closed his eyes and felt something tug at him.

"Access Denied, mana levels insufficient." The gem flashed as it chimed back.

"Huh, it didn't work?" Shirou frowned. He didn't really expect the thing to work, but he couldn't say he hadn't hoped that he could use the staff too. Still, he wasn't too disappointed. He wasn't a proper magus so he didn't have Magic Circuits to channel magic.

"Raising Heart requires a certain amount of magic energy to activate. If the user's magical stores don't match a certain level then it will deny the user access." Yuuno yawned and curled into a ball. "Even at its lowest levels you would probably be drained after a week or so of constantly feeding it mana. You do have magic just not a lot of it." That was interesting. He wondered if this planet had adapted to lower magic levels and created magic from that.

"So Nanoha has a lot of mana then?" Shirou stared at the girl. She didn't seem like a magus like Kiristugu, but then again this was a different type of magic. Maybe it required a different type of mana.

"Master Shirou's magical level rating is inconclusive, this unit places it at Rank D-. Master Nanoha's magical level rated at rank A." The device lit up as it ranked the both of them.

"Rank?" Shirou wondered what that meant exactly.

"E through S plus." Yuuno mumbled. "D is below average and A rank is something like one in one thousand on Mid-Childa. That's just magical level. Most people can't really use it right even if they have enough magical energy."

Yuuno's words sunk into Shirou's mind and he realized a harsh truth. "Huh, so I'm a failure at magic, huh." Shirou muttered to himself.

"Incorrect. Master simply does not match the magical threshold needed to activate this device. Magical pathways are unused but properly formed. Activation of pathways recommended to raise magical threshold." The device replied to Shirou's muttering. He looked down at the gem in confusion.

"Magical pathways…?" Shirou repeated. The statement sunk into the boy's mind immediately and he had to suppress the urge to start shaking the device and demand it explain what it meant.

"I think we should go home." Nanoha lifted a now sleeping Yuuno carefully. "We can talk about this later."

"Right..." Shirou didn't want to leave just yet, but his ribs still hurt and he was too tired to think straight. He got to his feet and winced at the pain he felt in his chest. He pressed a hand to it and found that the pressure didn't hurt it anymore. He would have to be careful on his way home, but he should be fine.

"Are you okay?" Nanoha frowned at his pained expression. "That monster hit you pretty hard."

Shirou tried to reassure her, but he moved too quickly and winced at the spike of pain that shot through his chest. "Don't worry about it. I'll be a little sore tomorrow but this isn't anything worse than when I spar with your brother." That was a blatant lie. Kouya never hurt Shirou this badly once during their spars.

"If you say so." Nanoha didn't seem convinced but let it go. "Then I'll see you tomorrow Shirou."

Shirou nodded and started his long painful walk back to his house. It was only after a few painful steps that Shirou realized a big problem.

"Where am I?"

He had no idea where he was.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days is now its own story. Partial credit for the title of this piece goes to <em>_123 a-z as he's the one that came up with the Mahou Senki part._

_The Magical Chronicles of Emiya Shirou will be split into several parts. Most of them following along the path of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and all its sequels. Lyrical Days which will follow the scramble for the Jewel Seeds. The War of the Night Sky, which follows the Book of Darkness incident. And Heaven's Feel which will follow the Holy Grail War._

_What comes after that if I even get to it will be determined in the future._

_This is revised version of chapter one with a bit better grammar and some minor fixes. All of the chapters will have gone through some minor editing like this._


	2. Chapter 2: Jewel Seed Scramble

****Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<em>**

**Chapter Two: **

**Jewel Seed Scramble**

* * *

><p><em>He was dreaming again.<em>

_The same dream repeated itself night after night. That single life changing day that would haunt him for the rest of his life. _

_Fire._

_There was fire all around him. The entire had become an inferno. His lungs burned from exhaustion more than the smoke that clouded the area. He pushed himself for another step and another. He had to keep going._

_Just a little further. That's what he told himself. He just had to go a little further. He had survived, so that meant he should live. The boy wandered the area aimlessly since he had no idea where it was safe. He only knew that it would be dangerous to stay still._

_He must have had the devils luck because he was the only thing left alive. _

_Though, could he call it luck, when he lingered in this inferno while the others were able to die?_

_Even a child could understand that this place was hell. There was no hope of being saved. It was a wonder that he had made it this far at all. So maybe calling it luck was wrong._

_Another step and another until, finally, his body finally gave out. The world tilts and the ground suddenly envelops his vision. He had fallen. His legs couldn't take another step. There was no energy, no life preserving instinct left. He had burned out. The fire had consumed him completely. There was nothing left but his body to burn._

_The boy stared up at the sky and saw dark clouds looming over the area. That was good. The rain would put out the fire._

"_It hurts." The boy whispered. The statement is less for himself and more for the people that can no longer speak the words. He closes his eyes and braces himself for what is to come._

…

"Ugh." Shirou groaned as the light from the window moved over his face. He turned over to escape the light. "It's too early." It had taken him an hour to get back home after the fight and even after that he hadn't gotten much sleep. The rough process of patching up his ribs took a long time and sleeping with the injury was even worse.

"Ah." Shirou remembered his injury from last night and pressed a hand to his chest. He took a deep breath.

"No pain. I guess it healed." Shirou smiled. That was great. He was worried about going to school with cracked ribs. He must have judged the wound a lot worse than it had been.

Shirou looked over at the clock near his bed and gasped at the time. "Oh geez, I overslept." He would barely have enough time to make lunch if he ate toast rather than making a proper breakfast. There wasn't even enough time for him to go through his morning exercise routine.

Shirou dressed quickly and rushed to the kitchen to get a start on lunch. He hummed lightly as he sliced the slits on the sausages before frying them. He had mentally checked what else he had to put in the box and frowned when he realized that he would need to go shopping soon.

He poured some oil on the pan and started slicing up some vegetables as the pan warmed up.

'_Shirou?'_

Shirou paused in his slicing. "Nanoha?"

He looked around but saw nothing. It sounded weird to. It didn't sound like his ears heard something, rather it was like he heard her voice in his head. _'Great. Now I'm hearing things.'_

The sound of a girl giggling in his head caused him to freeze. _'You aren't hearing things.'_

Shirou swallowed and looked around his kitchen. That was definitely Nanoha, and she responded to his thoughts. Feeling a little silly he focused on Nanoha in his head before thinking. _'Is this more of your magic?'_

'_Yuuno was explaining a few things to me and showed me this method to talk. I wanted to see if I could talk with you as well.'_ The girl explained.

Shriou couldn't help but marvel at the ease of which the girl was learning magic. It had taken him years to even get a single success with the easiest of Magecraft and now…

'_Oh my god!'_ Shirou's thoughts grinded to a halt when he realized he had succeeded in Reinforcement. Months of hard work had finally paid off.

'_Ah! Shirou. Are you alright?'_ Nanoha's worried voice reminded him that she could still hear his thoughts and he paused in his celebrations.

Despite the fact that no one could see him, Shirou blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. _'Sorry, I just realized something. Sorry for startling you.'_

'_It's no problem.'_ Nanoha sounded relieved that he was okay. _'I'm glad you're alright. And thank you for helping last night Shirou.'_

'_You don't need to thank me for that.' _Shirou grinned and shook his head. He didn't need or want to be thanked for something like that. He wanted to do something like that desperately. His entire life was dedicated to being a Hero. _'I would have helped you no matter what. It's-'_

'_What a Hero would do, right?'_ Nanoha's reply was teasing.

'_Of course.'_ He shot back and scowled as his cheeks burned again. Maybe he should stop his constant reassurances that he'd be a Hero.

…

Shirou ignored the teacher's lesson and looked down at his notebook. Written in it were several notes about what he learned last night.

Yuuno was a magical ferret. He was searching for several dangerous objects called Jewel Seeds. These objects can causes wishes or something but if left alone they would create monsters.

The staff, Raising Heart, could only be used by high level magic users which included Yuuno and Nanoha. So far Nanoha had displayed sealing magic, barrier magic, and now some sort of communication magic. Yuuno had said that she had talent that was extremely rare, so did that mean those spells were innate to her or part of that odd Mystic Code.

Raising Heart had displayed sentience and ranked him as below average in magical capacity and unfit for a user. Though it had mentioned that he had magical pathways.

That final fact had been circled and underlined several times. Shirou was desperate to know what that meant. He thought that he was a normal person incapable of using magic. Yet the device said he had the ability though not much of it.

He tapped the notebook a few times before adding a small comment next to the underlined sentence.

Magic Circuit?

He would have to wait until Kiristugu came home from his trip to ask about that. If he did actually possess Magic Circuits that meant that he could be an actual Magus instead of an imitator like he was. He could be a Hero just like Kiristugu.

Shirou sighed, closed the notebook and carefully placed it in his backpack. He pulled out his normal notebook for the rest of the lesson. There was nothing he could do about it right now.

When the bell finally rang and signaled the end of class Shirou quickly gathered his stuff and ran out to meet Nanoha and Yuuno. As he was dashing through the halls, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Shirou paused at the tug and looked behind him to see a girl from his class on the ground. He had tugged her off her feet in his rush.

"Ack, Hino-san, I'm so sorry!" The boy quickly helped her to her feet.

"Geez, Emiya. I didn't think you would be this excited about shrine work." The girl rubbed her shoulder before giving the boy an odd look.

"Shrine work?" Shirou asked in confusion. His mind was so filled with theories and questions to ask Yuuno that he pushed everything else aside.

"You forgot?" The girl glared at him. Shirou winced and started to stammer some sort of an apology but the glare that she shot him shut him up. He racked his brain for any requests at a shrine but all he could think of was the possibility of using Magecraft.

"Look," The girl pressed a finger to Shirou's chest, "You promised my grandfather that you would help out at the shrine to give me the day off and you're going to make good on your promise."

Shirou opened his mouth to object but remembered that he did promise that he would help at the shrine. He hung his head, defeated. "Yes ma'am."

…

Shirou found himself dressed in shrine robes at the Hino Shrine. He looked around the large shrine grounds and the leaves that littered the area. He then looked down at the broom in his hands and sighed. "I'm starting to see why people tell me that helping everyone is going to get me in trouble."

Shirou had escorted Nanoha and her friends to Cram School like usual and ran off to help at the shrine. It was something he had done in exchange for the lessons on meditation that the resident priest gave him. He hadn't really learned anything that would aid his Magecraft, but he had learned some interesting things and wanted to repay the Shrine Owner. Eventually they agreed that Shirou would help out at the shrine for one day.

"Alright." Shirou finally finished sweeping the ground of the leaves into a pile and wiped the sweat off his brow. Then he looked down at the hundreds of stairs that led up to the shrine. All of them needed to be swept. The sight made him groan. "I'm not even close to being done."

There was no chance of him asking Yuuno anything today. Maybe he should try to keep the questions and his apprehension out of mind. It was only distracting him for his work.

"Ah, is this the Hino Shrine?"

Shirou looked up from his sweeping of the stairs to see a teenage girl smiling at him. Shirou smiled earnestly at the girl and nodded. "Yes, this is the Hino Shrine. Do you need any help?"

The girl giggled and ruffled the boy's hair. He looked so cute. "I thought I would buy some charms for my exams coming up. Do you have those kinds of things here?"

Shirou tilted his head and tried to recall if they made those here. "I'm not sure. If you would follow me I can get the Shrine owner to answer any questions." He led the girl up the stairs and asked to her to wait in front of the main building.

He ran around the entire shrine calling out for Hino-san but he didn't get an answer. After checking the innermost room of the shrine for the second time, Shirou was about ready to give up.

"Man, did he go out and forget to tell m-" An odd feeling passed over Shirou causing him to pause in mid sentence. It was an odd feeling that pulsed through his entire being. He looked around for the source of the feeling.

"Kyaa!" By the time the scream cut through the quiet shrine, Shirou was already running towards the source.

"Hey, get away from h- Big Doggy!"

Standing in front of the teenage girl from earlier was the largest dog that Shirou had ever seen. He was even sure that this thing did not qualify as a dog anymore. It was probably the size of a van or a small truck. The beast's skin was black and spikes protruded from it. The crimson horns and mouth full of sharp teeth added to its demonic image.

The girl that had come to the shrine had fallen down and was just staring at the dog in horror.

"Oi, run away!" Shirou shouted at her but the girl just fainted as the demonic dog slowly stalked closer to her. "Get away from her!"

Shirou shot forward and struck the back of the dog with his broom. The wooden handle bounced off the beast's hide and did no damage. It did however draw the attention of the dog away from the girl onto him. The beast snarled Shirou and the red head paled at the sight of the monster so close to him. "I did not think this through, did I?"

A swat of the dog's paw struck Shirou hard and launched him across the shrine grounds. "Argh!"

Shirou groaned. He really needed to start wearing some armor or something because this was starting to become a bad habit.

'_Shirou!'_ A familiar voice cut through Shirou's thoughts on the benefits of body armor.

_'Nanoha!' _Shirou had forgotten that she could do this, but he was glad to hear from her.

_'Shirou, there's another Jewel Shard activating. It's coming from the shrine on-'_

'_I know. I'm already there.'_ Shirou frantically sent back as he got up and ran away from the charging dog. Whatever the dog was thinking, it seemed to want to play with the running boy more than it wanted to kill him. It thankfully let him get a small distance away before lunging for a bite that he barely dodged. Like a game of cat and mouse.

'_You're already there?'_ Nanoha then remembered how a disappointed Shirou told her he had to help out at a shrine. _'Ah that's right. Do you see-'_

'_Yes!'_ Shirou shouted at the girl as he jumped out of the way of another charge, this one taking out one of the trees that surrounded the area. Shirou watched the wreckage wearily and silently hoped that the tree fell on the dog. _'Please tell me you're close!'_

'_We're almost there. Just hold on a little longer.' _The girl's reply was thankfully quick.

_'Please hurry.'_ Shirou managed to duck away after the dog had missed a lunge. As he caught his breathe behind a tree he looked down at the broom in his hands. It wasn't the best object for this, but…

"Trace On." He gritted out as he felt something like a red hot iron pole be shoved into his spine. His entire body burned as he went through the perilous process of forging his nerves into a Magic Circuit.

"Magic Circuit set."

"Analyzing base materials." Shirou examined the broom with Structural Analysis. He saw the interior cracks that were made because of rough handling during manufacturing. The outer layers had been eroded from use and time. He let the magic fade after examining the handle. The bristles were unimportant so they were ignored.

"Reinforcing base materials" He poured Od through the hastily made Circuit into the broom handle. The temporary circuit strained even against the small amount of Od that he was pushing through it.

"Reinforcement complete."

Shirou let out the breathe he had been holding and gave the broom a quick glance over. The broom was still together but he could tell that his rush job had not been good. It would hold for the time being, but he doubted that it would be a good weapon. He looked around for the dog again when he felt something warm and moist pass over the side of his head. The Jewel Seed embedded dog had snuck up on the boy while he had been busy with his Magecraft.

"Argh!" The boy rolled away as the monster smashed the tree he had been hiding behind. Shirou dodged past the trees and ran back into the clearing in front of the shrine with the dog close behind him. Shirou spun around and swung the broom as hard as he could at the dog. The hard as steel broom handle struck the dog on the nose and stunned it for a moment.

Shirou hopped backwards and held up the broom in a defensive stance. The dog pawed at its nose before glaring at him. Shirou took a step backwards when the dog growled at him, but he stood his ground and met the dog's stare with his own. For a moment the beast and Shirou locked eyes and stood still.

'_Shirou, we're almost there!'_ Nanoha's voice in his head broke the silence and Shirou looked over towards the stairs before he remembered the dog.

Too late. Shirou spun around just in time for the dog's tackle. Shirou was pinned down by its paws and the only thing keeping his body from getting mauled was the fact that he had lodged his broom in the dog's mouth.

"Ah, Shirou!" Shirou vaguely heard Nanoha panicking but his attention was pretty much focused on big mouth full of sharp teeth trying to separate his head from his body. The boy struggled with the beast and hoped to god that the broom wouldn't break.

Suddenly the beast paused in his attempts at eating Shirou and turned to the shrine entrance. The dog had noticed Nanoha and Yuuno and decided that they were a better treat then the struggling boy underneath him.

The dog growled and shut its mouth, snapping the Reinforced broom into pieces before charging at the girl and ferret. Shirou abandoned his shattered broom and watched in horror as the dog went towards his new target.

"Nanoha!" The girl was just standing there while the monster charged at her. He could see Yuuno yelling at her to do something, but the girl was panicking about something.

Shirou pulled himself to his feet just in time to see Nanoha activate Raising Heart. A dust cloud was formed when the beast crashed into something.

He sighed in relief when the dust cleared. Nanoha was sitting on the floor unharmed with Raising Heart in its staff mode. She must have summoned her barrier in time to defend herself.

"Thank god." Shirou sighed in relief at the sight of the girl unharmed.

That barrier was ridiculously strong. It looked like the beast had hit and rebounded off a solid steel wall. Nanoha was completely unharmed even when the dog went for a second charge. The barrier repulsed it even harder this time and this gave Nanoha enough time to seal the Jewel Seed.

Shirou watched carefully as Nanoha once again sealed the Jewel Seed in a flurry of pink energy ribbons. The ribbons covered the beast before the dog glowed. After a bit of glowing, a small dog and the Jewel Seed dropped to the ground.

"Receipt No. XVI," Raising Heart confirmed the sealing.

"That was too close." Now that he was sure that the action was over, Shirou fell to the ground in exhaustion. It was just after he hit the ground that he remembered something important. "Ah, I can't believe I forgot."

"Eh?" Nanoha had deactivated Raising Heart and picked up Yuuno when she saw Shirou run off in a hurry. "Shirou?"

She ran after him only to stop when she saw him fretting over a teenage girl that was unconscious on the shrine grounds.

Yuuno shook his head at the sight of the small boy attempting to rouse the girl. The ferret saw the red streams running down the boy's right arm and wondered if Shirou even felt those injuries or if he was simply ignoring them. "He just had a fight with a monster and the first thing on his mind is to make sure that someone else is okay."

"That's Shirou alright." Nanoha giggled as Shirou tried and failed to pick up the girl who had fainted. "Always thinking of others."

…

By the time the girl had woken up, reassured Shirou that she was fine several times, and left with the small dog that had been affected by the Jewel Seed the sun had begun to set. The sky was painted in brilliant colors as the girl left the shrine completely unaware of what had just happened there.

"Well, I'd say this was a job well done, right?" Nanoha watched the girl leave with a smile on her face.

"Yeah. I'd say so." Yunno was sitting next to her. The two had agreed to wait for Shirou to change out of the shrine robes and back into his normal clothes.

"Hey, sorry to make you wait." Shirou ran up to the two once again in his school uniform. "Did the girl leave?"

"Mhm, she even took the little dog with her." Nanoha smiled and placed Yuuno back on her shoulders.

"That's great." Shirou smiled brightly. His first rescue and it had been pulled off fine. Sure he needed help from Nanoha, but he wasn't a Magus yet so that was to be expected.

Nanoha giggled at Shirou's happy expression. "Come on. All that excitement made me hungry. Let's go grab some snacks." Nanoha paused as she noticed the setting sun and frowned. "Oh wait, you have to get home for dinner, don't you?"

"Huh, oh don't worry about it. Kiristugu is on another tri-Urk!" Shirou froze as he realized what he had just let slip.

His little mistake didn't go unnoticed.

"Shirou," Nanoha stopped walking and turned to glare at Shirou. The boy squirmed under her gaze. "Is Emiya-san on a trip again?"

"What? Why would you think that? What kind of snacks do you think we should get?" Shirou quickly tried to deflect the question. His frantic attempt at deflecting the question failed miserably. It didn't help that he was panicking wildly or that he had no poker face at all.

Yuuno looked between the two in confusion. He hadn't seen Nanoha angry about something before and it was surprising to see the girl look so frustrated. "Kiristugu? Trip? What are the two of you talking about?"

"Shirou's father goes on a lot of trips." Nanoha explained as she glared at the sheepish looking boy. "However this leaves Shirou home alone. My family found out that Shirou has been fending for himself during these times and offered to take care of him when Emiya-san is out of town."

"It was a short trip this time. He'll be back soon." Shirou tried to defend himself. "I've taken care of myself for longer."

"It doesn't matter!" Nanoha applied a vice grip on Shirou's arm and started to drag him along. "You're going home with us and then you're going to tell my parents that you've been staying home alone again."

"What? No way!" Shirou tried to dig his feet into the ground. "Your parents are just going to scold me. And your mom might do _that _again."

"Is staying with them really that bad? Nanoha's family seemed really nice." Yuuno looked over at the boy and wondered what was causing him to try to escape. It seemed unlikely that he would get anything more than a mild lecture for his actions.

Nanoha rolled her eyes. "It's nothing bad, but my mom found the perfect punishment for when Shirou stays with us and doesn't behave."

Yuuno wondered what would scare a boy that would fearlessly face a Jewel Seed created monster without a second thought. He tried to imagine a fitting punishment with the image of Nanoha's kind mother and something that would freak Shirou out this much but couldn't come up with anything. Unwilling to let his morbid curiosity be unfulfilled he asked Nanoha. "What is the punishment?"

Shirou wailed out an explanation.

Yuuno almost fell off of Nanoha's shoulder when he heard what had scared the boy so badly. He stared at the struggling boy and just shook his head. "I don't get you people at all."

"It's just Shirou." Nanoha shook her head as she dragged along the crying red headed boy.

…

In all of his life, Shirou has faced more horrors that any nine years old should have to face. His unspoken memory of the day that Kiristugu found him, the constant threat of death that followed his Magecraft practicing, the pain that Magecraft induced, and just recently, monsters created from the latent desires of people all around. Yet nothing scared him more than the threat in front of him.

Momoko Takamachi stood in front of the boy with a disappointed expression on her face. Beside her was her husband, Shirou Takamachi, looking sternly down at him.

"Shirou-chan, you know that you're supposed to tell us when your father is out of town. We have no problem taking you in for a little while." Momoko's tone was both scolding and disappointed. .

Shirou squirmed under the disappointed looks and tried to think of a good defense. He didn't really want to lie to the two of them so he just looked down and mumbled his answer. "I didn't want to be a bother."

The older Shiro sighed at defeated expression on the boy's face. "You're not a bother. I'm sure we've told that to you several times, and even Kiristugu has agreed that it would be best if you stayed with us when he's not there for you."

Momoko nodded and gathered herself. With a stern expression on her face she pointed at the smaller Shirou. The boy flinched at the motion and braced himself for the verdict to fall. There was no escape and he would be trapped here with no way out. Nanoha would make sure that he followed the decree even outside of the house.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ban you from the kitchen, Shirou-chan." Momoko solemnly announced.

The wail of despair that came out of Shirou's lips echoed throughout the house. It was a familiar wail for the household. So familiar that when Miyuki peeked her head to see what was going on, she did so with a good idea of what was going on.

"Did Shirou-chan get banned from the kitchen again?"

"Yep." Nanoha passed her by with some tea on a tray. She set it down for her parent and Shirou and glowered at Shirou, who at this point was on all fours on the ground with a cloud of depression over him. "He didn't tell us that his father was on a trip. He was living by himself for days."

Miyuki winced. "Ouch. So I'm guessing the ban is for his entire stay then."

Nanoha's father laughed weakly. "I'm afraid so."

…

"I can't believe that you got so worked up about not being able to cook." Yuuno wondered how cooking could be so important to a person.

After Shirou had recovered from his depression, the boy was sent up for a bath. He sat in another lively dinner with the Takamachi family and gave the kitchen a look of longing before going up with Nanoha to her room to talk with her and Yuuno.

"But I'm so close to getting a recipe down. If I don't practice I'll lose all that progress." It had almost been perfect the other day. He was sure that he was about to make a breakthrough with the recipe but now it would be days before he could make another attempt. It was tormenting.

"Don't try to understand him Yuuno-kun." Nanoha sighed at the boy's antics. He was usually so normal, but give him a sword or a ladle and he turned into something else completely.

"Anyways, this is good. I had some questions I wanted to ask Shirou about his magic." Yuuno threw off the weirdness that had followed Takamachi-san's decree and got down to business. Shirou heard the mention of magic and turned to the ferret with a serious expression. Yuuno wasn't the only one that wanted to learn more about magic.

"There is no knowledge of Earth being able to house a magical community. It was thought that the residence of this world simply did not have the talent for it." Yuuno pondered whether or not this was accurate. The two kids in front of him were two completely opposite sides of the spectrum. Nanoha had a talent that was one in a million while Shirou was in terms of magical energy a complete failure. Yet Shirou had shown the capacity for magic without any device or external signature for magic. "I'm not really sure how accurate that statement is, but what I do know is that whatever kind of magic Shirou used is completely different from anything I've seen."

Nanoha nodded. "It didn't really look like magic. I mean, you made the wooden sword shiny for a moment, but other than that, it looked like nothing happened."

Shirou winced a little but defended his magic. "Well, Reinforcement is the most basic of basics for Magecraft." It was also something he had only just succeeded at doing, but they did not need to know that. "I guess I could show you something else."

Shirou closed his eyes and emptied his mind. He once again went through the difficult process of turning his body into a Magic Circuit for his magic to flow.

Both Nanoha and Yuuno watched Shirou closely. Nanoha was excited to see what kind of magic that Shirou would perform, while Yuuno was trying to figure out what Shirou was doing. The amount of magic that the boy was using was miniscule so it couldn't be anything big.

Sudden the air in front of Shirou's hands glowed and the light condensed itself into a tight sphere. When the light faded, a small circular red gem was sitting in Shirou's hands.

"Raising Heart!" Nanoha cried out before reaching for the small gem.

"Teleporation?" Yuuno couldn't believe it. Did earth have the capacity for teleportation with such low amounts of energy?

"Eh? It's still here." Nanoha found the small gem and looked at it and the double that was sitting in Shirou's hands. Yuuno blinked as he saw that the Device was still in Nanoha's possession.

"I didn't teleport it. I just copied it." Shirou wiped off the sweat on his head and rolled the gem with his fingers. "This is called Gradation Air, but I like to call it Projection. It basically makes a copy of an object that I picture in my head."

"So it's another Raising Heart?" Nanoha looked closely at the second red gem and poked it to test its solidity.

"Not exactly." Shirou frowned at the small gem in his hands. "It just has the shape of the object. I can't copy Raising Hearts abilities or anything like that. Projection just makes a physical copy of the object."

Shirou put the Projected gem on the bed for Yuuno to examine. The ferret picked up the gem and marveled at the object. This was a solid object created from nothing but magic. An impossibly small amount of magic at that. The weight was similar to the original and its look would pass anything but a scrutinizing check.

"This is amazing." The ferret whispered.

Shirou shrugged. "It's also useless. Projections don't last long and they're pretty fragile. So other than for rituals, most Magus don't do anything with it." It was just his luck that his two talents, Structural Analysis and Gradation Air were both useless for a Magus.

Yuuno looked up at the boy as Nanoha held both Raising Hearts and was comparing them. "They don't last long?"

Shirou shook his head. "Things created from Gradation Air are unnatural so the world actively tries to get rid of that unnatural addition. So constant attention and magical energy is needed to maintain the object for long periods of time." He couldn't remember the exact explanation that Kiritsugu gave to him, but that sounded about right. "I can make them last pretty long, but they go away after half a day or so at most."

"Ne, ne Shirou. What else can you make?" Nanoha had abandoned the extra Raising Heart and smiled at Shirou in anticipation.

Shirou blinked at the girl's attention and shrugged. "Well simple stuff really. The more complicated it is, the harder it is to Project. See Gradation Air is all about how well I can project my personal image onto the-"

Yuuno idly listened to the explanation that Shirou was giving to a confused Nanoha but his focus was on the second Raising Heart and the magic that Shirou just displayed. The possibilities of such a magic were endless even with the limitations that were imposed on it. It was something to think about and with Shirou staying at the Takamachi's for the time being, he would have plenty of time to explore it.

…

The days Shirou spent at the Takamachi house went by quickly as Shirou was busy the entire time. He had school, helping out at the Midoriya, sparring with Kyouya and Miyuki and finally helping out Nanoha with the Jewel Seeds.

Three more Jewel Seeds had activated in the days that went by. The first Jewel Seed had activated when he had been busy helping at the Midoriya and couldn't go help Nanoha without raising suspicion. The second he had been there and as for the third…

Shirou leaned heavily on his wooden sword. He had used Reinforcement on it earlier, but even with the prana boosting its durability the sword had several cracks running down the blade. He had been running around trying to keep the latest Jewel Seed monster still long enough for Nanoha to seal it. The third Jewel Seed activation during his stay at the Takamachi residence had created another formless being that was a lot more aggressive than the last.

The black cloud shot downward at the boy and attempted to smash him one more time. Shirou jumped backwards and let it collide with the ground. The collision sent up a cloud of dust, but Shirou didn't let that stop him. He charged forward and unleashed a barrage of slices at the monster.

He felt his sword cut several times and pieces of the monster all shot out of the dust cloud to reform.

"Gotcha." Shirou grinned viciously as the pieces all swirled around one spot to mold back together.

"Lyrical Magical! Jewel Seed Serial XX, Seal!" Nanoha fired out several ribbons that enveloped the formless monster and reduced it to a single jewel which was promptly absorbed by Raising Heart.

"Receipt No. XX" Raising Heart toned out.

Yuuno ran up to a panting Nanoha. "Good job Nanoha. This makes the fifth Jewel Seed in our possession."

"Y-yeah…" Nanoha panted as she leaned heavily on Raising Heart.

After they were done, the trio slowly made their way back to the Takamachi residence. Nanoha was using Raising Heart's staff mode as a crutch and Shirou was favoring one leg pretty heavily.

"Are the two of you okay?" Yuuno looked over at the two kids and couldn't help but feel responsible for their haggard appearance.

"I'll be good by morning." Shirou grinned weakly before wincing as he put too much pressure on his bad leg. Yuuno was quickly learning that Shirou could recover from pretty bad injuries rather quickly. It probably had to do with the odd magic that the boy was using but Yuuno was worried about the inconsistency of the boy's magical healing. He had healed up from the injuries he got at the Shrine before they had even gotten home but the cuts and bruises he got from the last Jewel Seed had yet to finish healing.

"I'm fine, but…I'm just a little tired…" Nanoha trailed off and collapsed on the floor.

"Nanoha!" Both Yuuno and Shirou quickly rushed to the girl's side.

"Oi, Nanoha, are you alright?" Shirou lifted the girl's head up and shook her lightly.

"Zzz…"

Both Yuuno and Shirou were silent for a moment when they realized that the girl had just fallen asleep. The two shared a look of exasperation.

"She's out cold." Shirou groaned as he picked up the girl. After a bit of awkward shifting, Shirou was carrying Nanoha piggyback style. Yuuno had returned Raising Heart to its standby mode and followed after the limping boy.

…

"Good mo-mo-morning." Shirou yawned as he slowly padded his way to the kitchen table for breakfast. It was a testament to how tired the red haired boy was that he didn't even give the kitchen a second glance as he sat down.

"Good morning Shirou-chan." Momoko greeted the boy. She was glad that she didn't have to catch the boy trying to cook breakfast again. It was endearing normally, but after a few days it could get tiring. "Is Nanoha up?"

Shirou shook his head and mumbled his thanks as he was served his breakfast. He had carried Nanoha to her room and woke her up to get dressed in her pajama so her parents didn't catch wind of what they were doing. She had gone out cold again after that.

After that was done he and Yuuno had discussed magic for an hour and he had finished off the night with some Magecraft practice.

Shirou had been running himself ragged like this for the last few days and it was really hitting him hard. He stifled a yawn and attempted to figure out his schedule for the day.

Today was Sunday which meant no school. Nanoha's father was coaching a soccer team and they had a game this morning. So he had volunteered to help at the café while Nanoha and her friends went to watch the game.

The boy quickly ate his breakfast and gave his thanks to Momoko and ran off to get dressed.

…

"Here you go." Shirou served up the last of the room for the soccer team's victory party. Nanoha's dad had treated them for their victory. He flitted throughout the store making sure the party had enough food and taking orders from some customers that had entered.

Momoko took the latest batch of plates from the boy with a smile. "Shirou. Nanoha and her friends are outside playing with Yuuno. You should join them."

"Right, I'll see if they need anything." Shirou ran outside before she could tell him he was wrong.

Miyuki giggled at her mother's expression. "That boy seriously needs to learn when to take a break."

The girls were at one of the outside tables of the café. They already had their food and when Shirou walked out, Alisa was playing with a struggling Yuuno. Shirou wondered for a moment how uncomfortable Yuuno felt playing the normal Ferret.

"Geez, Alisa-san. Let Yuuno breathe." Shirou came to the little ferrets rescue. He plucked the rodent out of the blonde girl's grasps and placed him back on the table.

'_Oh thank god.'_ Yuuno opened up the mental connection to Shirou and slumped in relief. _'Thanks for the save Shirou.'_

"No problem little guy." Shirou placed the animal on his shoulder and gathered the used plates up. He ignored Alisa who was sticking out her tongue at him.

"Well then, I guess we're all done for today." Alisa picked up her bag and got up.

Suzuka picked up her purse and nodded to Shirou as he picked up her plate. "I guess so."

"Oh, that's right. You both have plans for this afternoon, don't you?" Nanoha smiled at her friends.

Shirou picked up the last of the plates and paused for a moment to let Yuuno hop to Nanoha's shoulder before heading inside. He passed by Nanoha's dad and headed inside to help clean up the plates from the party.

…

The streets were packed in the afternoon and Shirou wiped his brow as he continued his run. His lack of stamina was starting to catch up to him and he needed to train harder if he was going to keep up with Nanoha.

His mind wondered to the Jewel Seed encounters that he had been a part of. In all of them he had been able to do nothing more than distract the monster so that Nanoha could seal it. Even then, his distractions were only because the monsters had the grace to treat him as an annoyance. He doubted that he was even a threat to any of them.

Shirou had been thinking of how he could more helpful but the only thing he could think of was to be stronger. He could Reinforce objects, but he was too weak to use them in any useful way.

The barrier that Nanoha possessed was a lot more useful than him so far. His Magecraft wasn't going to get any better than it was at the moment and without Kiristugu to teach him more it was going to stay that way. So his only option was to train his body.

Shirou shook his head and ran faster. His breath was starting to get ragged and his muscles burned with every movement. He was starting to reach his limit. The boy sped through the streets and dodged past the crowds of people and objects that littered the streets.

When he could finally run no more, Shirou collapsed onto a bench and fought to regain his breathe. He panted and cursed himself for only being able to run this far. He had planned to go so much farther.

Shirou pushed himself onto his shaky legs and stumbled towards the nearest vending for a drink. As he walked further he stopped as he felt the ground shake. He wondered if an earthquake was going on when the rumbling got worse.

The earth shook worse and worse and plants erupted out of the ground. Shirou yelled as the buildings around him had pieces of them knocked off by the rapidly growing trees.

"What is…?" Shirou threw his arms up as another branch of the tree shot up in front of him. He shuddered as a familiar pulse of energy passed through him. "Is this a Jewel Seed?"

Shirou waited until the crowds cleared from the area and looked around. There were giant trees growing out of the ground and a few of the building in the area had holes knocked out of them by the branches.

A cry from a building nearby broke Shirou out of his amazement. Shirou shook his head. He couldn't afford to stand still in this kind of situation. There was work to do.

Shirou ran towards the nearest cry for help.

…

It was later that night that Shirou found himself back at the Takamachi's dinner table.

"So did you hear about what happened in town today?" Kyouya questioned the table.

If he had been paying attention, Shirou would have noticed Nanoha stiffen. However he was occupied with his own thoughts and nodded weakly. "There was some sort of an attack and a lot of buildings were damaged."

Miyuki shook her head. "Some people were saying some crazy things like they saw a giant tree growing out of the city."

Nanoha's father turned to Shirou. "Weren't you in the city around that time? Did you see what happened?"

Momoko turned to younger Shirou with worried eyes. "Is that true? Were you hurt Shirou-chan?"

Nanoha turned to Shirou in surprise. "You were in the city?"

Shirou started when he heard his name and it took him a moment to answer the question. "Oh, yeah. I went running." Shirou gave a weak shrug. "A lot of people were panicking so I got caught up in the crowd."

"Geez, who could do a thing?" Miyuki shook her head at the audacity of such a crime.

Nanoha stared at Shirou who was glaring at his own hand like it had done something wrong. _'Shirou, are you okay?'_

Shirou twitched but gave no other outer expression. '_I'm fine, I'll… I'll tell you later.'_

The dinner went by and Shirou shook himself out of his funk when the conversation turned to what everyone did during the day.

Even as Shirou joined the conversation again, Nanoha made sure to keep an eye on the boy. The look in his eyes when he was staring at his hand scared her.

…

It was late at night when Shirou got up and left the room he stayed in when he stayed over at the Takamachi residence. He wandered out of the house and into the Takamachi's dojo. He picked a pair of the practice swords off the wall and walked to the center of the dojo.

Shirou moved into a basic stance and started to practice. He went through a few katas before just swinging at imaginary enemies. Shirou paused in the middle of a slash and dropped the practice swords in disgust.

"What am I doing?" Shirou fell his knees and slammed a fist into the ground. "Am I still this weak?"

Tears gathered in the corners of Shirou's eyes as he recalled this afternoon.

_Shirou ran into the nearest building and looked around frantically. He had heard someone yelling in the building._

"_Somebody! Help!" The voice called out from the upper floor._

"_Just wait, I'll be right there!" Shirou ran up the stairs as fast as he could. When he got up there and looked around. There was a girl a bit older than him trying to pull a piece of the building. Shirou swore when he saw that a boy was trapped under the debris._

_Shirou ran over and started to help the girl. The both of them pulled as hard as they could but they could barely get the piece of the wall to move. The two of them paused when pieces of the ceiling started to crumble. Shirou looked up to see cracks forming in the ceiling. Shirou slapped a hand to the wall and with a cry of "Trace on!" scanned it._

_The wall was starting to fail from the weight. They weren't going to be able to save the boy before it fell. Shirou made an instant decision and started the process for Reinforcement. If he could strengthen the wall then they would have time to get the boy out._

_As Shirou focused on magically strengthening the wall the girl looked at him like he was crazy. The boy had stopped helping her with the pillar on her brother and was now focusing on the wall. She shook her head and was going to pull harder on the pillar when she noticed something._

"_Look out!"_

_Shirou opened his eyes and stopped his Reinforcement when something collided into him. He felt his body fly a few feet away and heard a large crash. Dust clouded the room and Shirou coughed and choked on it. "Hey… are you okay?"_

_The magus-in-training looked up and froze. The girl that he had just been helping was on the floor with a piece of the ceiling on top of her._

"_No…" Shirou ran over and struggled with the debris until he shifted it off of the girl. He started shaking the girl. "Hey, wake up!"_

_Shirou sat there and tried to wake the girl. He stayed there until the trees that were impaling the buildings faded and rescue workers came. He stayed there even when the rescue workers took the girl from him and moved the pillar and took the boy too. Shirou watched with haunted eyes as the girl who had been hit by the debree instead of him was pulled into an ambulance._

Shirou opened his eyes and hit the ground again. "Damnit. What kind of Hero am I?"

"You're a little young to be a hero aren't you?" A voice cut through the darkness of the dojo causing Shirou to freeze. He turned and found Yuuno on the ground looking at him with a curious expression.

"Yuuno." Shirou shook his head. "Everyone keeps telling me that, but I can't accept that. Nanoha is-"

"Making mistakes just like you do." Yuuno interjected. At Shirou's surprised expression the ferret continued. "Nanoha noticed a Jewel Seed right after you left but dismissed it as her imagination. It later activated and caused the accident with the trees."

Shirou stared at the ferret and slowly processed what he just said.

Yuuno recalled Nanoha's expression when she saw the damage from the Jewel Seed and compared it to the expression on Shirou's face a moment ago. "Nanoha was beating herself up about it but she's been running herself ragged as it is."

"Yeah… but what can I do?" Shirou sighed and looked down as his hand again. "She doesn't even need me there. All she has to do is cast that barrier to protect herself."

Yuuno shook his head. "You're a big help. I'm sure you know, but using magic like that is not easy for a beginner to use. Any strain that you can keep off of Nanoha is going to make a difference."

Shirou swallowed as he heard that and remembered how Nanoha had collapsed last night. He had to carry her home because the girl was too exhausted to even stay conscious.

"Yeah, you're right. I just have to help her as much as I possibly can." Shirou picked up the wooden swords he dropped and stood up. "That just means I have to work harder to help even more."

Yuuno watched as the boy started to go through another sword kata before silently heading back up to Nanoha's room. He was glad that Shirou was back to normal. Hopefully having him support Nanoha would keep her from going beyond her own limits. The little changeling felt ashamed that he had to place this burden on Shirou, but Nanoha was the one that could seal the Jewel Seeds until he regained his strength.

The two boys fought to gather strength. Yuuno to regain his former powers, and Shirou fighting to gain new ones. Yet tonight, they both vowed to fight for the same reason. To support Nanoha.

…

In the night sky a figure watched Uminari city. This was the place that the Jewel Seeds seemed to have gathered. Several had activated in the city in a short amount of time and more will surely activate within the city once more.

Golden blonde hair danced in the wind and the girl's black clothes melted into the night. A black staff was held in her hands and a red wolf like creature rested on the building below her.

"The Lost Logia is around here." The girl's cool voice cut through the air. "It manifests as a small blue gem that is generally called a 'Jewel Seed.'"

The red familiar stared at her partner and silently listened to the review of their mission.

"Ah, that's right." The girl's voice is filled with emotion. The goal is within sight. "It will be mine soon."

Moments later the girl and the familiar are both gone.

It seems the scramble for the Jewel Seeds would only get harder for our Heroes.

* * *

><p><em>AN: There we have it. Chapter two of Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days. This contains the events of Episode two and three. I've been mainly sticking to what Shirou is involved with and other things that involve Shirou, but that is quickly going to change as the things that happen start to go all over the place.<em>

_A small thing that I think I'm going to keep for a few chapters are the dream segments in the beginning. It's a good integration to Shirou's backstory which will come up later and I have a few plans for it that has to do with a future event a little further on. It's going to be a good look at how Shirou's outlook is affected by the events all around him._

_Anyways, tell me what you think._


	3. Chapter 3: The Rival Appears

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Three: **

**The Rival Appears**

* * *

><p><em>The world around him burned. The buildings, the plants, even the ground itself wass consumed by the fire.<em>

_He had pushed his body past its breaking point to escape this hellish landscape but it was a pointless effort. He had fallen to the ground and could do nothing more than stare at the sky. All he could do was wait for the last bits of his life to extinguish._

_The cloudy sky brought a tiny bit of comfort. There would be rain and this fire would be gone._

_"It hurts." He whispered. Not for himself, no he didn't have the right to say that he was in pain. The words were for the people that he passed up, for the others that screamed in pain as he ignored them. Those people that no longer had a voice, the words were for their sake._

_He closed his eyes and braced for the end._

_The flames flickered around him and grew closer. The boy made no effort to track the flames growing closer to his body. It would make no difference as whether he had another minute to live or another hour. He had no more strength to turn his head but even if he had the strength he would not turn it. There was no point in looking at the remains of the town, no point in looking at the remains of the people around him, and no point in looking for a savior. So he waited patiently for death to come._

_But death did not come. The sky was covered and his view of the sky was blocked by another figure. It took a moment for the almost dead boy's eyes to adjust but when they do he sees the sight that will haunt him for years to come._

_A man dressed in a wrinkled coat. His hair was black and messy like he hadn't had the time to wash it in ages. But the thing that caught the boy's attention was his expression. It was hard to grasp but the man had this expression of joy on his face. It was a look of relief and joy, a mixture of happiness that poured into the void that the fire had left in the boy._

_One last thought went through the boy's mind before he lost consciousness. As he watched the man fret over him and place something unseen on his chest, the boy stared at the man's expression of joy and thought._

_'Ah… I wish I could be that happy.'_

_…_

"Ah…Suzuka-san…" Shirou wasn't really sure how he got into this situation.

He probably should have been paying attention when Nanoha invited him over to Suzuka's house before agreeing. He probably should have also been paying attention when Noel the head maid of the household dragged him aside for something, but being the helpful person that he was, Shirou followed along without asking any questions.

"Is something the matter Shirou-san?" Suzuka smiled innocently as she turned to him. Alongside her was Alisa who looked like she was trying hard to contain her laughter and was failing badly. Nanoha was just smiling and Yuuno stared at him for a moment but dismissed it as Shirou getting into weird situations again before going back to cowering from one of the many cats that littered the backyard.

"Why am I in a suit?" Shirou was dressed in a modified old fashion business suit. Noel had taken him aside after leading them to where Suzuka and Alisa were waiting for them. Before the boy could even ask what the maid had wanted he was donned in the suit and told that if he wanted to learn than he should have just asked. Shirou was then pushed outside with a confused expression on his face.

"I thought it was a little unfair for Nanoha." Suzuka explained as she took a sip from her tea. Seeing the confusion on her friends faces the purple haired girl expanded. "Alisa and I both have attendants but Nanoha doesn't. Considering that you're always at Nanoha's house and you keep doing chores well…" She just gestured to Butler Shirou.

Shirou twitched at the implication and scowled. "I'm not Nanoha's butler."

"You could've fooled me." Alisa muttered to herself.

Shirou twitched again but ignored the girl. She was the one to start the joke that he was trying to apply as the Takamachi Butler. The conversation eventually turned away from teasing Shirou to other topics.

As the girls started to discuss the love life between Kyouya and Suzuka's older sister Shinobu, Shirou tuned them out and started playing with one of the many cats that were gathered in the yard. Seeing a potential safe haven, Yuuno immediately ran up to the boy and jumped onto his shoulders to evade one of the cats that was chasing him. Shirou yelped as the cat latched onto him and tried to climb up his leg.

"Ah! Get it off!" Shirou tried to get the cat off of him. He couldn't just pull the cat off as that would rip the suit.

Shirou stumbled around as he tried to get the cat to let go of him. The rest of the cats had gathered to either watch or join in the fun. Soon Shirou was flailing around with several cats latched onto his arms and legs. Yuuno had latched onto the boy's head in sheer terror of the sight of all the cats trying to climb up to get him.

"Umm, shouldn't we help?" Nanoha looked over worriedly at the spectacle. "What if they get hurt?"

Suzuka simply waved off her concern with a smile. "Don't worry about them. Cats land on their feet."

Nanoha nodded and turned to watch Shirou struggled with the cats again. The boy could have to go through much worse than a few cats to get hurt. They all knew that. The safest thing to do was simply enjoy the chaos from a safe distance.

They all watched in amusement as Shirou tripped backwards over one of the several cats running around the exact moment that Farin walked in with a tray filled with their tea and snacks. The maid's cheerful announcement that their tea was ready changed into a surprised cry as Shirou barreled into her. The girls watched as the boy into the maid sending the tray flying into the air. Yuuno had abandoned his post on the boy's head as he followed the same animal instincts that caused all the cats to vacate the area.

CRASH!

The girls winced at the sound of fine china smashing. Shirou groaned as he got off a stunned Farin and looked over at the mess in horror. The girls just groaned as Shirou ran over to the pile of broken china in a panic.

The girls all sighed in unison as Shirou tried to clean up the mess. Eventually Farin came back to reality and dragged Shirou off for a lecture and to help her make a new set of tea and snacks.

...

Shirou hung his head as he started laying out snacks on the replacement tray. "I'm sorry."

Farin just giggled at the boy. "No no, it's my fault. I should have been more careful." Shirou always took these kinds of things too seriously. It was odd to see him so casual with Suzuka and her friends but so formal and tense with adults. The only ones that seemed to be immune to his need to be formal was Kyouya and Miyuki. It was cute in a way to see him attempt to act all grown up.

Shirou just felt miserable. He had been beaten by cats. Cats of all things. The furballs had beaten him completely. Maybe if he added all the cats together it would equal a decent opponent. He didn't think that would work. He continued to place snacks on the tray with a depressed cloud over his head.

_'Shirou!'_ Yuuno's voice rang out in the boy's head causing him to halt his work. _'There's a Jewel Seed nearby!'_

_'A Jewel Seed?'_ Shirou froze at the thought. _'How close is it?'_

_'Too close. I'm going to put a barrier around the area to keep the damage contained. I need you to get into the woods right away.'_

'I'll be right there.' Shirou sent back before he felt the link close off.

"Farin-san. Do you mind if I head back out there. I think I missed some of the tea pot and I don't want anyone to hurt themselves." Shirou grinned at Farin turned around to face him. He grabbed a broom that was nearby and ran out before she could say anything. "Thanks!"

"Ah, Shirou!" But he was already gone, running out of the house.

...

**Intermission**

It was a fated meeting. On one side was a golden haired girl dressed in black. On the other side, a brown haired girl dressed in white.

"Another mage. Another person searching for the Lost Logia." The girl's voice was monotone and quiet but it cut through the air all the same.

Nanoha took a step backwards at the serious tone that the girl was using while Yuuno's focus narrowed onto the girl.

"There's no doubt about it now. She comes from my world." Yuuno tried to figure out why there would be mage from Mid-Childa looking for the Jewel Seeds. "And this girl, she even knows the true identity of the Jewel Seeds."

The girl ignored the familiar in favor of the girl in front of her. She looked over the staff in the girl's hand in interest. "Just like my Bardiche. You hold an Intelligence Device."

Nanoha looked over at the staff in the girl's hand in surprise. "Bardiche…?"

"The Lost Logia… or rather the Jewel Seed." The girl spoke calmly as she swung her staff to the side. It quickly shifted shapes and released a blade of energy from its tip, making it resemble a Scythe. She held the weapon in front of her. "I'm terribly sorry, but I will be the one to claim it."

The girl rushed at Nanoha with his blazing scythe trailing behind her. The first battle for the Jewel Seed had begun.

...

Shirou ran out of the house and ran deep into the woods. Yuuno had mentioned he placed a boundary field of some sort to keep anyone from noticing the battle and he swallowed deeply as he felt magic wash over him. Magic seemed to envelop the entire woods and the world seemed to shift just a tiny bit.

For the briefest moment the color of the world seemed to bleed out and time seemed to stop in the forest, but then it was gone and Shirou found himself back in the forest. That had to have been the boundary field.

Shirou ran further into the forest but it wasn't until he was deep into the woods that he even heard a trace of the magical battle that was underway. The familiar feeling of Nanoha's power washed over him once he got past the barrier's entrance but there was another one intermingled with it. He didn't really understand it, but when he sensed magic it came in the form of smell. Nanoha's magic was hard to describe and he hadn't been able to label it to any specific feeling so he just qualified it as Nanoha. As he got closer to the battle site he realized what the other magic resembled.

It felt like a surge of electricity. Like static suddenly filled the air.

The sounds of explosions and the flashing lights were much closer and Shirou dashed into the clearing just in time to see Nanoha blasted out of the air by a bright yellow light.

"Nanoha!" Shirou ran out to catch the girl but he quickly realized that he was too far. He wouldn't be able to make it. He watched in fear as the girl fell closer and closer to the ground. However, just before Nanoha would have crashed into the ground, a trio of magic sigils appeared beneath her and gently caught her.

Shirou let out a breath of relief and ran over to check on his friend. He looked over at Yuuno who was checking the girl for any injuries.

Despite the force of the magical attack, Nanoha was fine. She was unconscious but Shirou couldn't see a mark on her. That's right, she had a barrier to protect her.

"Yuuno, take care of her." The ferret looked up at Shirou and saw a determined expression on his face. He wanted to tell him to stop, that he would have no chance at all against this girl, but he already knew that Shirou wouldn't listen. So he nodded and watched as the boy picked up the broom handle he had brought with him along with a broken branch off the ground.

Shirou looked over to saw the other magical girl for the first time. She had long blonde hair that was tied up with black ribbons. She was wearing a black outfit but he couldn't really see much past the black cape that she was wearing, and in her hands was a Device. It was in staff form like Nanoha's, but this one looked more like a pole arm or an axe then a magical focus.

Her focus was on the large cat that held the Jewel Seed. While she went through the motions of sealing the Jewel Seed, Shirou prepared his own weapons.

"Trace On." He went through the processes quickly. Analysis, creation of the Magic Circuit, activation of the Circuit, and flooding the broom with Od. The broom handle was Reinforced perfectly, but he was pretty sure he screwed up on the branch, so it wouldn't last long.

The girl was done sealing the Jewel Seed by the time Shirou had finished his Reinforcing his makeshift weapons. She turned just in time to see Shirou charge at her with both weapons in hand. She raised her staff up to defend herself, but Shirou was faster. He swung out with his right hand and knocked the staff out of the way before twisting around and slashing at her. A bright yellow light flared in front of him and flung his weapon back. Too slow, she had raised her barrier in time to block him.

"Another one?" The girl whispered in surprise before pointing her staff at him once more. The feeling of electricity in the air intensified and Shirou threw himself to the side just in time to dodge the blast of lightning that the staff released.

Shirou rolled back to his feet and charged the girl once more. He had to keep close to the girl and press the offensive. If he gave her even a little space then she could simply summon a barrier that he wouldn't be able to break and the fight would be over. He struck out with both of his weapons and was rewarded with another flash of yellow and being repulsed backwards. The girl had flinched from the hit and taken a step backwards like she took a hit. Good, he could get past the barrier if he surprised her.

His opponent schooled her emotions once more and simply adjusted her grip on her Device.

"Scythe Form, Set Up!" The device toned out and Shirou noted that it could shift shapes like Raising Heart. Rather than disassembling and summoning new parts for a different form, this device shifted the blade like aspect upwards to change from looking like an Axe to a Scythe. Before Shirou could question how such a small blade would work as a Scythe the Device began to glow before summoning a curved yellow energy blade.

She shot forwards at surprising speeds and lashed out with the energy blade. Shirou sidestepped and tried to parry the blade with the branch, but the makeshift weapon, even strengthened by Magecraft, was no match for the magical blade and was sliced to pieces.

"Not good!" Shirou cried out at losing one of his weapons. It shouldn't have been cut so easily so he chalked it up to a failed Reinforcement. He jumped backwards in a vain attempt at gaining some room to think but he had forgotten that this girl wasn't as limited in range as he was.

"Arc Saver." Shirou's eyes widened as he heard the device tone out again. The girl swung the scythe forward and the energy blade was released out like a boomerang. Shirou dove under the attack and fought the urge to flinch at the explosion behind him. The girl didn't wait for him to get up and charged him again with his weapon pulled back. Shirou realized that he couldn't block the blade and that he had no real chance of dodging. So he improvised.

He waited until the last moment before the girl swung the Scythe and shot forward. He barely made it past the scythe's blade before it cut into him. The pole holding the blade was stopped by the wooden handle Shirou was holding. Shirou's triumphant gaze fell onto the girl's surprised ones. And then his world froze.

Shirou knew that he had no real way of harming the girl at this point. His only weapon was locked against the device next to him and there was no way he could hit the girl hard enough to get past the Barrier Jacket.

However, even if he did possess a weapon that could harm the girl, he wouldn't have been able to. His entire being was focused on the girl in front of him, and her eyes. He watched as the surprise quickly fell away to a glimpse of anticipation, then to confusion and finally to an expression that he couldn't put into words. It was that expression that had frozen him, it was a familiar expression and he wondered where he had seen it before.

However the eternal moment had to end and when it did, it did violently. The girl released a hand from her Device and pressed it to Shirou's chest. The boy's eyes widened as he remembered where he was, but it was too late.

A flash of yellow blinded Shirou and he felt something slammed into his body like a wreaking ball. His body flew backwards until its flight was interrupted by one of the trees in the area. Shirou fell forward but even as his vision swam and was invaded with darkness he kept his gaze on the girl.

That emotion in her eyes, right before she had blasted him, he kept trying to recall what it was. Finally the darkness won and the boy's eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

...

_Uminari City was different. Shirou couldn't really remember much about Fuyuki City, but he could tell that these two cities had more differences than similarities. Even the house that they had moved into was much different than the one from before. The house in Fuyuki had been a large Japanese styled house that in Shirou's opinion was much too big for the two people staying there. Their new house was a much more modest Western styled house. It had a small backyard but it was nothing compared to the large yard that had been apart of the former Emiya residence._

_Shirou wasn't really sure which one he liked better just yet._

_But it didn't really matter where he lived really. He could have moved into a small shack on a cliff as long as he could follow Kiritsugu. The man, no, his father he amended quickly was odd. He was a doting father and loved to spend time with Shirou but there were times when he was in his own world._

_One time in particular stood out of Shirou. It had been a while since they moved to Uminari and Shirou had raced back home from school. After months of pleading, bargaining and begging, he had finally gotten Kiritsugu to agree to teach him magic. He had gone out on a short trip and said that the day he got back he would start their lessons. That day was today._

_Shirou had a grin larger than life when he saw the Emiya house. As he got closer he saw a figure waiting on the porch of the house and his smile only grew in size. Even at a distance, Shirou could recognize the unkempt appearance of Emiya Kiritsugu. However as he got closer he paused as he saw the expression on his adopted father's face._

_The man was leaning against the house while smoking. A habit that the man hadn't been able to kick, but had managed to stop in front of Shirou if only to set a good example. But it wasn't the cigarette that caught the boy's attention. _

_The man's eyes were staring into the sky but they had no real focus. It was as if he was looking past the sky at something in the distance. Shirou was reminded of the day that Kiritsugu had rescued him and he couldn't help but compare the man from before to the man in front of him._

_There was no happiness on Kiritsugu's face, there was no life changing joy. It wasn't a sorrowful expression either. The name of the emotion on the man's face was not something that the boy could name yet. But he would learn what it meant latter. For now, the boy shook off his confusion and ran up to the man who adopted him. _

_Kiritsugu caught sight of him and tossed away the cigarette guiltily. He greeted Shirou with a smile and when Shirou told his father what he had been doing this week he tried to find the smallest hint of that earlier expression. He would catch small glimpses of it at times, but it was never as clear as on that day._

_'Ah… that's what it is…' Shirou compared the girl's eyes to his father's. He felt the knowledge of that emotion slowly work its way into his mind. 'Resignation.'_

_..._

"Shirou!"

Shirou groaned lightly at the shouting. He felt something on land lightly on his chest and started to cough in protest. He opened his eyes to see a small ferret on his chest. It only took him a moment to remember what had happened. He shot up to a sitting position which threw Yuuno off of him. "Where is she?!"

Yuuno sighed at the panicked expression on the boy's face. "The girl left after she knocked you out. It seems that she just wanted the Jewel Seed."

Shirou nodded and started scanning the forest for any signs of the girl coming back. When he saw nothing, he sighed in relief. Yuuno grabbed his attention again. "We need to get going. I can't hold this barrier up for much longer and I have no doubt that everyone is looking for you and Nanoha by now."

Shirou looked over at Nanoha and saw that the Barrier Jacket was gone by now and that she was still unconscious. Yuuno caught his worried look and reassured him that she was fine. "The Barrier Jacket worked fine. She's going to be a little sore when she wakes up, but that's it."

He turned his gaze over towards Shirou and examined the boy carefully. "I'm more worried about you. You took that blast head on. I'm surprised that you woke up at all."

Shirou looked down at his chest to see a large burn in his suit and raised a hand to the back of his head where it hit the tree. There wasn't even a bump. He didn't feel any pain at all. "I'm fine, she probably held back."

Yuuno watched Shirou check himself out curiously. He was right that the blast wasn't at full power, but that didn't mean that it shouldn't have knocked out the boy for much longer than the short period of time he had been out. Shirou didn't have the benefit of a Barrier Jacket to protect him. That blast should have put Shirou in the hospital. He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Shirou cry out in surprise. The boy had fallen over and was face down on the floor. "Did something happen?" Yuuno berated himself for believing Shirou's assurance that he was fine. The boy had a stubborn habit of understating his injuries.

Shirou just pushed himself up with one arm and looked over at the other in confusion for a second. He made a fist with the hand a few times before shaking his head with an odd look on his face. "It's nothing."

Yuuno frowned at the dismissal but let it go. They needed to get Nanoha back to the mansion before the others worried too much.

Shirou picked up Nanoha and after a few moments of awkward handling got her into a piggyback position and let Yuuno rest on top of his head. He felt the odd magic that was in the air disappear and the forest seemed to suddenly become more vivid. Yuuno's barrier must have fallen. He managed to take a single step towards the mansion when a thought struck him.

Yuuno looked down at the boy when he froze. Was he more injured than he thought?

Shirou swallowed and tilted his eyes up towards the ferret. "Yuuno, what are we going to tell the others?"

Yuuno had forgotten about that detail. Nanoha being unconscious could be explained simply as her fainting or something similar. Her Barrier Jacket had made sure that there wasn't a mark on her. But Shirou was a bit more complicated. The boy was physically fine, but the large burn mark on the chest portion of the butler outfit would be a bit harder to explain.

"Leave the jacket." Yuuno quickly thought up of a vague story. "The burn didn't burn through the undershirt, so we can just say you lost the jacket. Hopefully the burn mark will simply be thought of as mud."

Shirou put Nanoha down gently before pulling off the jacket and listening to the story that Yuuno was quickly weaving. It was a simple story with only a few lies, but it could work.

"Shirou?" The boy froze as a familiar voice called out through the trees. "Shirou is th- Oh my god! Nanoha!" Alisa and Suzuka had both come through the trees and saw the state that the two of them were in.

They both quickly ran over to the girl and began to panic. It was Alisa that turned to Shirou and started questioning the boy. "What happened? Where were the two of you? Why isn't she walking up?!"

It was at that moment that Suzuka looked over and found the butler jacket with a large burn on the flaps. "Shirou, what happened?!"

The red headed boy looked back and forth between the two girls who were worried about their friend and channeling that worry into fury directed at him. "Eh, uh, um…" He had forgotten the story that Yuuno had come up with and was now grasping at straws. "I don't know! I just went looking for Nanoha and then everything went blank. The next thing I know I was waking up next to her. The jacket was like that when I woke up!"

"Urgh! You're useless!" Shirou winced at the accusation. It hit home a lot closer than it should have. "Come on, we need to get her to the house. And you're going to carry her. No complaints!"

Shirou nodded and let the girls order him around as he picked up Nanoha and followed the girls back.

…

The sun was shining down the Uminari City. Standing on the porch of one of the several houses in the city were two men. The first was dressed in a simple white button up shirt and jeans. He had a youthful look about him that denied his actual age. This was Takamachi Shiro, Nanoha's father.

The second man was dressed a bit more formally, a black long jacket and matching pants. The second man looked rather unkempt, like he had trouble sleeping or was under far too much stress. The second man was Emiya Kiritsugu, Shirou's adoptive father.

The two of them stood in silence before Kiritsugu broke it. The man took one last drag from a cigarette before tossing it onto the floor and grounding it out. It was obvious to the man what the topic of their conversation would be, so he went straight to the point. "So, what did Shirou do this time?"

"I'm actually not sure this time." Shiro sighed. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that this time Nanoha is the one that's gotten into trouble and Shirou is just participating." That surprised the Kiritsugu. While the two of them had the tendency to get in trouble, most likely in the pursuit of aiding another, it was Shirou that usually instigated the trouble.

"Are you sure?" Kiritsugu didn't like to place doubt on his adopted son, but he was well acquainted with Shirou's habit of bringing in trouble.

Shiro nodded and chuckled at the man's disbelief. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but whatever is going on between the two of them is definitely centered on Nanoha."

Kiritsugu nodded but waited for the other father to finish. If the only thing he had to say was that the two children were up to mischief then they would have simply scolded them in public. If Shiro wanted this conversation away from the children then something was up.

"Nanoha had dragged Shirou along with her to a friend's house. I'm sure you remember Suzuka and Alisa." Kiritsugu nodded. Shirou loved to tell his father about his school life and friends, so he was no stranger to the girls. "The both of them ran off in the middle of their visit. First Nanoha, and then later on Shirou disappeared. They were both gone for a long period of time, and when they returned Nanoha was unconscious and Shirou was carrying her back. There wasn't a scratch on her, but Shirou had a few bruises and an odd burn on his chest."

Kiritsugu made no visible expression, but his mind was awhirl with several different scenarios.

Shiro looked over at him and took his silence as permission to continue. "If that wasn't enough, Shirou had gotten an injury that I can't seem to explain at all."

That drew Kiritsugu's attention. "What is it?"

Shiro made a curious expression on his face. "He somehow lost all feeling in his right arm. It's like he damaged the nerves, but there's no sign of any kind of external injury. Momoko was ready to drag the boy to the hospital but Shirou somehow managed to get out of a visit to the doctors."

Kiritsugu relaxed a little at the explanation. He had a good idea of what had caused the injury and if so he could make sure it wasn't too much of a problem. He moved to reassure the fellow father that he would take care of things on his side. "Shirou dislikes hospitals. I'm afraid that they bring up rather bad memories. However I'll talk to him and see if I can't get him to spill what he's up to this time." Seeing the other man nod and take that into consideration, he pushed off the wall he was leaning against and smiled at the man. "You have my thanks again for taking care of Shirou. Sometimes I forget how much of a handful a child can be."

Shiro shook off the thanks. "It's no problem. Shirou is always welcome at our house." Following the other man's lead, Shiro walked inside of his house to tell Shirou his father was back. Hopefully his worries were baseless, but he felt like this was merely the beginning to a much larger problem.

…

The Emiya household was filled with energy today. Rather than the lonely aura that seemed to permute the home, it was filled with excitement and joy.

The reason was simple. Emiya Kiritsugu had come home and Shirou was telling him everything. Well almost everything. It could be forgiven in the excitement of telling his father everything that he would forget a few crucial details. He was after all only nine years old and he hadn't seen his father in weeks.

So his story of magical girls, talking magical ferrets, and his success in Magecraft was also interrupted with interludes about school, his annoyance at being kept from the kitchen by Nanoha's mom and the embarrassment he felt when Suzuka and Alisa both agreed that he was to be Nanoha's butler. It was difficult for Kiritsugu to place what parts Shirou was exaggerating and what parts he was telling the truth.

Kiritsugu raised a hand to get the boy to pause and take a breath. Normally he would easily and happily listen to his son chatter about any inane thing as long as he was happy, but today he needed his son's attention for something important.

"It seems like you've been up to a lot lately, though that's not a surprise." Shirou flushed at the reminder of his habit of getting into trouble. He always had good intentions but trouble seemed to follow him no matter what. "Now, you said that you've managed to make progress with your Magecraft."

That got Shirou to focus and he started talking about his progress with Reinforcement and how he was actually able to succeed. It was peppered with a story of a giant magical fur ball and a demonic dog, but Kiritsugu left those hopefully exaggerations pass his mind. He held up his hand, "Your right arm."

Shirou flushed as he realized that he had been caught. Reluctantly he lifted up his arm and laid it on the palm of his father's hand. He watched as his father carefully examined the arm and answered when his father would apply pressure if he had felt it or not. It wasn't as bad as it seemed. His arm was mostly fine with only a few places that were a little numb. The only place that had been slow in its healing was the hand. He still had no feeling at all in the appendage.

Kiritsugu sighed as he realized what had happened. He was afraid of this but he had no idea that Shirou even get this far at all. It was his hope that Shirou would attempt Magecraft for a little bit, get disillusioned and then drop the entire ordeal. It looked like he no longer had the luxury of hoping Shirou would leave the world of the Magi behind.

"Is… is there something wrong with it?" Shirou took Kiritsugu's pensive look as something bad and was worried he did something to his hand.

Kiritsugu smiled softly at his son, "Nothing that we can't fix." He closed his eyes and nodded as he pulled Shirou to his feet. There was no helping it. If he let Shirou stumble around through his Magecraft training the boy was likely to kill himself. He wasn't the best teacher, but he could teach Shirou what he knew.

"But we're going to have to teach you how to not burn your nerves out as you create a Magic Circuit."

For some reason, that statement got Shirou really excited. Maybe it was the fact that Kiritsugu was actually going to teach him something, he thought regretfully. No, his son ran up and pulled out a pile of papers before he found the one he was looking for. The boy grinned at Kiritsugu like he had won the lottery and proudly proclaimed.

"I have Magic Circuits!" The boy looked proud for a moment before he looked thoughtful, "Well, I think I do."

That took the wind out of Kiritsugu's sails. He had honestly not expected that. "What?"

…

Kiritsugu took in the explanation his son gave him with a grain of salt. Even then he still couldn't readily accept the story easily. "So you're telling me Nanoha is now a magical girl because a talking ferret released a set of dangerous artifacts into the world and is now too wounded to seal them." He saw Shirou nod and wished he could smoke in front of the boy. "Then the magic talking staff that the ferret gave Nanoha said you had Magic Circuits."

"Well, it didn't say Magic Circuits, just something about magic pathways." Shirou scratched his cheek and wished he thought of how ridiculous this would sound to someone that hadn't seen it. It would have probably helped if the person telling the story was older than ten years old.

Kiritsugu shook his head and wondered why he never checked if Shirou had any Magic Circuits. Oh that was right, he was trying to get the boy away from Magecraft. He still couldn't believe that Shirou had been practicing how to create a Magic Circuit for over a year. The boy was determined if nothing else.

"Well it couldn't hurt to check if the magical staff is right." Kiritsugu said wirily. Well that wasn't exactly correct. It would hurt Shirou to awaken any Magic Circuits he had in his body, but the boy had endured the creation of Magic Circuits so activating them couldn't be that worse.

So Shirou found himself in his work room sitting in a magic circle. Kiritsugu could have probably just pushed Od into Shirou's body but his current condition prevented him from doing something as simple as even that. This meant that the former Magus Killer needed to use a little more roundabout methods to awaken any Magic Circuits in Shirou's body.

"Alright, so this might hurt a little."

Shirou looks at Kiritsugu oddly as he worked on the circle. "What are we doing?"

Kiritsugu didn't even look up as he continued to work. "Well if you do have Magic Circuits, then the only thing we can do is wake them up."

Shirou opened his mouth to ask him how he was going to do that when the wave hit him. It felt like fire had spread throughout his body. Pain was being forced deep into my spine and spreading through my very essence. This wasn't like the fire of forging a Magic Circuit. No this was uncontrollable pain surging through his entire body.

"Urk!"

He knew this feeling. It had been a little while since he had felt it, but it wasn't a feeling he could forget. This was failure. A Magic Circuit forged wrong.

"Well, that's a surprise." Kiritsugu's words are distant, like he's farther away than the few feet between them. Even then he can hear the resignation in his father's voice. But his attention is drawn more towards the pain that is coursing through his body than his father's words. "You do have Magic Circuits."

"Da…d…" It was taking everything he had to keep from screaming and thrashing around. Luckily his word seemed to snap Kiritsugu out of whatever funk he had placed himself in.

"Oh right." Kiritsugu just smiled softly at Shirou. "Calm down. All I did was activate your Magic Circuits."

He tried to nod but he couldn't feel anything other than pain so he was unsure if the action was done correctly. Needless to say, Kiritsugu continued with his lecture anyways.

"Now I wasn't expecting you to actually have Magic Circuits, so I'm going to have to teach you how to use them. The Magic Circuits are like the activation switch for your magic. Right now they're being forced on by that magic circle on the ground. If you want to turn them off you're going to have to do it yourself or live with them active all the time."

Shirou wished his father would get to the point. He was in a lot of pain and so far all his father had done was lecture on unimportant stuff.

"H-ho…how!" He managed to growl out.

Kiritsugu looked surprised at the outburst and just scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well that's the thing. It's different for every Magus. It's a mental switch that you have to turn on and off. I can't really help you find it. The best advice I can give you is to try to calm down and let your body relax. Hopefully the switch will close with those actions."

Shirou wished he could hit his father. He was experiencing more pain right now than in the last few months, which was really saying something considering all the magical fights he had been in, and now his father wanted him to relax.

Still, his father was trying to teach him, so it wouldn't do for him to rebel or complain. Shirou took some deep breaths and tried to calm down. It took a few minutes but he was finally able to get his body under control, though the fire hadn't faded nearly as much as he wanted it to.

"Alright… I think I'm okay." Shirou gritted out.

Kiritsugu nodded and walked over to the desk that was in the room. He picked up a glass and placed it down in front of Shirou. "Good, now we can actually begin your training in Magecraft. Let's start with Reinforcement on this glass."

Shirou looked up at his father in horror. He could barely move and now he had to do Reinforcement. Wasn't that a little too fast?

His thoughts must have been obvious because Kiritsugu continued his explanation. "This is the state in which you'll be doing magic from now on. You have to get used to it. Now start, I'll go get some more glasses for you to practice on."

Shirou watched his father leave the room and groaned as he looked over at the glass that was sitting in front of him. He couldn't concentrate properly and the magical energy in his body was uncontrollable. There was no way he could strengthen the glass in this state but he had to try.

Shirou swallowed and began to pump Od into the glass. He just needed to pour the correct amount of energy into the glass. Unsurprisingly the glass shattered in his hands. Shirou sighed. He had gotten so used to successfully doing Reinforcement too.

Kiritsugu walked in with a boxful of glasses and set them down in front of Shirou. There was no soft smile or indulgent expression on the man's face. This was all business to the man. "Now then, let's go over the pros and cons of Reinforcement and their uses while you get through this."

Shirou wanted to groan. He wasn't sure which was worse, the constant failure at Reinforcement that he would be going through, the pain of his Magic Circuits being active, or the boring lecture that he was sure was going to follow.

As Shirou struggled through his first lesson on proper Magecraft, he wondered how Nanoha and Yuuno were doing at the hot springs. They were all worried about the new magical girl, so hopefully the rest and relaxation at the hot springs would do the girl good.

Little did he know that his friend's trip was anything but peaceful.

…

The day had been going so well too. Yuuno thought to himself.

Nanoha had lots of fun with her friends and the hot springs were sure to give the girl some needed relaxation. Other than the one incident with the strange acting woman, nothing seemed to go wrong. Yuuno had regretted that Shirou had to miss the trip, but he understood that the boy saw his father so little that anytime with the man was treated as a luxury.

Nanoha had talked him out of taking Raising Heart back and assured him that she would be with him all the way. She had also stated that he would have to fight Shirou to stop trying to keep the Jewel Seeds from hurting people. He had a 'saving people' thing as she said it.

Then the night had taken a turn for the worse after that.

A Jewel Seed had activated. Yuuno didn't want to even guess the odds of that happening. So far all the Jewel Seeds had been rather close by, but what were the chances of this one activating when they were taking a trip here.

Then they got to the area and saw her. Well it was them now. The other Mage from the other day was accompanied by the woman who had given them a hard time at the hot springs. She had turned out to be the familiar to the girl. She had attack them both but he had managed to put up a barrier to stop her. Yuuno knew that leaving her around would only make the battle tougher for Nanoha so he pulled out a trick from his sleeve (Hmm, he had forgotten how convenient clothing was sometimes, he had really been in this form for too long).

Movement Magic. The spell was similar to teleportation, but it put both him and the familiar out of the fight. Hopefully, Nanoha would be able to take care of herself this time.

…

The spell had left the two girls alone on the bridge. Nanoha looked around for any signs of Yuuno before her attention was drawn to the girl in front of her.

"Trained in magic that manipulates barriers to suit its needs. You have a strong familiar." The girl looked puzzled for a moment. A brief expression of emotion filled her face. "Though I am surprised that your servant boy isn't here with you."

Nanoha scowled at the accusations. "Yuuno isn't a familiar and Shirou isn't a servant. They're both my close friends."

For a brief moment, the girl just stared at Nanoha, almost as she was testing the resolve of the girl's statement. "So, what will you do?"

Nanoha frowned at the challenge in the girl's voice. "Isn't there some way we can talk this over?"

"I must collect the Lost Logia fragments… the Jewel Seeds." The girl answered back. "And if you have the same goal, it means we'll be enemies, with the Jewel Seeds on the line."

"That's what I mean!" Nanoha stepped forward. She refused to believe that they had to resort to violence so quickly. "I believe that we need to talk this over so we don't make dangerous decisions like that quickly!"

"Simply talking… nothing will change through words alone." The girl closed her eyes before focusing his attention on Nanoha. She pointed Bardiche at her. "Nothing will be transmitted!"

Nanoha gasped as the girl disappeared in a blur. She saw the blur end in the corner of her eye and turned in time to duck under a swing of the girl's Device.

"Flier Fin!" Raising Heart toned as it activated her flying spell.

Nanoha shot high into the air to dodge the second swing. She had yet to make an offensive move. She still hadn't gathered the resolve to fight. "But even so…!"

The girl's response was swift as she flew after the girl. "Put yourself on the line and make a bet. One Jewel Seed will go to the winner."

"Photon Lancer, Get Set." Her device prepared for its next attack.

Nanoha looked sadly at the girl. She didn't want to fight, but there was no other choice. She watched as the other girl rose towards the moon before falling down at her. The spell launched a quartet of electric bullets at the white clad girl who responded with a powerful barrier to repel them.

They clashed in the air several times before they both separated for the space to launch a larger attack. Raising Heart reassembled itself into its Shooting Mode as Nanoha quickly gathered the magical energy for her next attack.

The other girl's yellow sigil appeared in front of her before she pushed Bardiche through it. "Thunder Smasher." A powerful beam of electric energy pierced through the air.

Nanoha responded with equal force. "Divine Buster!" The pink blast met the girl's and for a moment they were equal.

"Raising Heart, please!" Nanoha cried out to her Device.

"All Right." The Device heard her cry and responded accordingly. The pink blast's power surged forward and quickly overtook the other attack. Nanoha watched regretfully as he attack flowed over the girl. Or so she thought.

"Scythe Slash." The polite tone of Bardiche was the only warning that Nanoha got. She looked upwards to see the other girl without a scratch on her. Bardiche quickly shifted into its Scythe Mode and Nanoha flinched as the blazing energy blade swung down at her.

But there was no pain. She could feel the heat from the blade as it was placed against her throat. She was staring at the blade with one eye barely open, afraid of what the blade could do with a simple push or twist.

The other girl watched with waver eyes as she held the other girl at blade point.

"Pull Out." Raising Heart decided to take the initiative and quickly expelled a single Jewel Seed to protect its master.

"Raising Heart, what are you…?" Nanoha looked over at her staff in confusion.

"I'm sure it's worried about and did it to protect you." The girl reached up and grabbed the Jewel Seed before landing on the ground.

Nanoha followed more slowly, still stunned by the events of the last minute.

"Let's go home, Arf." The girl turned and started to walk away.

"I expected nothing from my master." Arf shifted into her human form and followed after her victorious master, but turned back to deliver one last taught. "See you latter, little girl."

"Wait!" Nanoha reached the ground and stepped towards the girl.

The girl stopped. "Never appear before us again. If something like this happens again I may not be able to stop."

"Your name…" Nanoha shook off her fear and called out to the girl. "What's your name?"

"Fate. Fate Testarossa."

"Umm… I'm-" Before the girl could give her own name in return, Fate took off into the night sky.

Arf followed behind her master with a quick, "Bye, bye."

Long after the two of them had left, Nanoha still stood there looking at the night sky with eyes full of unspoken emotions.

* * *

><p><em>AN:<em>_ This is chapter 3. We finally find the name of the mysterious girl (like you didn't already know) and Shirou fixes a problem that would have seriously stunted his growth in the future._

_Also he gets his ass kicked again._

_I was a little weary of not having Shirou go on the Hot Springs trip, but then I thought about it. There's no reason for him to follow Nanoha along for everything. They have their own separate lives. So Shirou gets some painful training in as Nanoha fights Fate._

_Anyways, tell me what you think._


	4. Chapter 4: Tempered in Flames

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Four: **

**Tempered in Flames**

* * *

><p>Shirou groaned and curled into a ball as he woke up. His dreams had been full of fire as usual, but the flames were so much worse this time. It was probably because of the searing pain that was coursing through his body. He still hadn't been able to close his Magic Circuit but the pain had settled into his body feeling just hot enough to feel painful rather than mind numbing pain, so he was able to move around again. Kiritsugu had given him some vague advice for closing his Magic Circuits, but Shirou didn't really remember it. It wasn't that good of advice in the first place.<p>

After listening to his alarm clock for an eternity, Shirou finally managed to gather the willpower to get up. He got onto shaky feet and walked towards the bathroom. Hopefully a shower would help clear his head.

He went through his morning routine and started heading downstairs to the kitchen to cook breakfast and pack his lunch. Before he got to the stairs he paused at one of the doors and slowly opened it. He peeked in and saw a lump of blanket that meant Kiritsugu was still sleeping and grinned. He softly closed the door and made his way to the kitchen with a smile on his face. Even if he didn't get to see him often, just having him in the house made Shirou happy.

Shirou whipped up a quick meal for himself and made sure to leave a portion for Kiritsugu to heat up. While he did like cooking, learning the skill had been a necessity since Kiritsugu couldn't cook to save his life. If Shirou didn't learn to cook he was sure that he and his father would be living off of take out and burnt food. He shuddered at the thought.

"Now let's see. What can I throw in my lunch today?"

Still, he was happy with the skill. Cooking for others always made him happy and it meant that no matter where he went he could make a good meal as long as he had the supplies. Shirou peered into the fridge with a frown on his face. He wondered briefly if he stared at the empty space long enough will some food magically appear. He doubted it. He could possibly Project some food, but it would probably taste terrible. He should ask Kiritsugu if there was a branch of magic for cooking.

"I guess I'll have to just buy some bread for lunch." Shirou sighed and closed the fridge. He wrote a quick note to Kiritsugu, asking him to go shopping if he had time. Shirou would do it, but he wanted to talk to Yuuno about what he learned about Magecraft. The ferret had been really interested in his magic and they spent a lot of time discussing it. Though not all of those discussions had gone well.

…

_**Flashback**_

_Yuuno looked up at the boy and tried to wrap his mind around the statement he just said. "Could you repeat that again, I think I misheard you."_

_Shirou scratched his cheek as he wondered if he said something wrong. "I have to make a Magic Circuit every time I use Magecraft."_

"_You have to create a Magic Circuit every time." Shirou nodded and Yuuno twitched as he realized the implications of this. "And creation of a Magic Circuit requires you to do that same ritual that we spoke of yesterday."_

_He saw Shirou nod again meaning he was on the right track, though he prayed to god that he had misunderstood something. "The same ritual that requires high amounts of concentration and feels similar to having a steel rod that has been superheated inserted into your spine."_

_Shirou winced as he figured out what was bothering Yuuno so much. "It's not that bad. I mean, it was unbearable the first few times I did it, but I've gotten used to it really. I mean the fact that I can do it in the heat of battle means that it can't be _that_ bad, right? I mean, I'm probably exaggerating the pain, ahahaha…" _

_Yuuno just stared at the red headed boy and wondered if all the magic users on this planet needed to go through such desperate measures to use their magic. It would explain why there were so few of them at least._

…

It had taken Shirou an hour to stop Yuuno from telling Nanoha about how much pain using Magecraft put him through, and it took another hour to get the ferret to let him keep helping Nanoha with the Jewel Seeds. He had to lie and embellish a few facts after seeing Yuuno so stricken at how Magi normally worked.

Well, maybe the news that he didn't have to create Magic Circuits anymore would help. Though he would have to refrain from telling him about his inability to close them so far and the pain that came with it. Yeah, there was no need to tell Yuuno about that. What the ferret didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Though he had learned a great deal about Reinforcement. Maybe he could distract him with that information. It was more than just 'strengthening' the object to make it more durable. Reinforcement added to the effect of the object too, swords become sharper and a lamp would let out a brighter light. That would be useful to remember, though he wasn't sure it would help him much at the moment. A wooden sword wouldn't really cut even with Reinforcement, especially through whatever Barrier that girl had.

The girl. In his excitement over training and his focus on learning how to control his Od through his own Magic Circuits he had forgotten about the girl.

Eyes full of contained emotions, emotions that opposed the force and façade she outwardly projected.

Shirou shook off the thought and ran out of his house towards school. He went over the lecture that Kiritsugu had given him over Reinforcement to occupy his mind, but despite all his attempts his mind kept going back to that girl and her eyes full of emotion.

Resignation. That was an emotion that he wasn't entirely familiar with. He had seen it, but he never experienced it. He was a person of action, well, he was now. If he saw a problem he worked towards a solution. Though working towards the solution usually involved several mistakes and accidents he didn't let himself fail or wait for failure to reach him. Resignation was only something he's seen on Kiritsugu. Why would that kind of emotion be on a girl his age?

The answer alluded Shirou. He gave the entire situation as much thought as he possibly could but he couldn't figure out a reason.

"Argh!" The boy threw his hands in the air and stopped thinking about it. Shirou couldn't figure it out. There was something wrong with that girl and he was going to figure it out. They would probably see her lots more often while searching for Jewel Seeds so he had time. Shirou threw his thoughts to the wind and dash through the gates of the school. He wanted to ask how the trip to the hot springs went before class started.

…

Apparently not well. Nanoha and Yuuno had ran into the girl again and lost a pair of Jewel Seeds to her. The one that activated and another one from Nanoha's collection. She now had a familiar to help her with battle too. A woman that transformed into some sort of dog or wolf named Arf. Though Nanoha and Yuuno hadn't exactly gone home empty handed. They had at least gotten a name out of the mysterious girl.

Fate Testarossa. Shirou played the name in his mind a few times and mentally matched it to the girl. They couldn't really do anything with the name but it was nice to call her something other than 'that girl' or 'the other mage.'

However, the battle seemed to have taken a toll on his friend. Shirou attempted to get Nanoha's attention several times during the day to open up a mental channel so they could talk about what happened, but the girl wouldn't react to anything. Shirou had even taken a chance and bounced a note off the girl's arm, but she even ignored that. Whatever the girl was thinking it had taken her attention completely. Lunch was a similar case. He couldn't exactly talk to her about magic while Alisa or Suzuka were there so he just chatted with them as usual. Nanoha was still spacing out and he could tell that Alisa was starting to get annoyed by it. He wondered when the girl would finally blow.

"Give me a break already!"

Apparently right after class ended, Shirou sighed. The girl was probably counting down the seconds until she could go grill Nanoha. Shirou frowned and watched from his own seat. Alisa was over Nanoha's desk, while Suzuka was hovering back hesitating over what to do, and Nanoha was looking surprised at her friend's outburst. Shirou wondered if he should step in or not. On one hand, it looked like Nanoha was really out of it. On the other hand, it wasn't really that nice to ignore your friends.

"You've been staring out into space and zoning out since the other day, no matter what we talk about!" Alisa continued to rant at Nanoha.

"I-I'm sorry Alisa-chan." Nanoha bowed her head as she stuttered an apology, but this only seemed to fuel Alisa's anger.

"Don't apologize! If talking to us is really that boring, then go space out by yourself!" The blonde haired girl spun around in a huff and walked out of the classroom. "Let's go, Suzuka."

"Alisa-chan." Suzuka watched sadly as their friend stormed out of the classroom. She turned to look down at Nanoha as if asking for permission. "Nanoha-chan…"

The brown haired girl smiled weakly. "It's alright Suzuka-chan. It really was my fault this time."

"I don't think that's really true… but either way, Alisa-chan went really overboard this time. I'm going to go talk to her."

Nanoha nodded and watched her friend run out of the room to chase after Alisa. "I'm sorry about this…"

Shirou sighed at Nanoha's expression and started packing up his things. Bag packed and thrown over his shoulder, Shirou walked over to the pensive girl and tapped her on the shoulder. He scowled at the sad smile on his friend's face. He would make sure that she didn't have that smile on her face. He pointed towards the door. "Come on, let's get out of here."

…

Shirou walked over to the bench that Nanoha was sitting on with a small smile on his face and a paper bag in hand. He sat down next to the girl and pulled a piece of Taiyaki out of the bag and offered it to her. The girl looked up at him in surprise, but accepted the treat with a small smile. Shirou took another one out to eat and took a bite out of it. Taking a moment to enjoy the snack with it was still warm, Shirou looked up at the sky and sighed. "You know, I think I have a good idea of what Alisa is feeling."

Nanoha looked over at Shirou in surprise. "Eh?"

"Well, it's not something I experienced myself, but I wonder if you remember." Shirou smiled at the memory. He stood up and leaned over Nanoha with a mock angry expression on his face. "You're always working so hard to make everyone happy. So why are you not happy yourself?!"

Nanoha blinked at the now smiling boy and started giggling. "I said that to you, didn't I?"

Shirou nodded, "It really surprised me, you know. I didn't even know your name at the time and you came up to me and started yelling at me for no reason."

Nanoha shook her head and pouted at him. "Mou, I had plenty of reasons for yelling at you."

Shirou rolled his eyes. "Really, think about it. It was completely irrational."

Nanoha giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.

…

_Flashback_

"_Everyone, we have a late entry into our class. It seems like he had some medical troubles before, but now he's fit to come to school." Their teacher had a large smile on her face as the class cheered at the news. A mysterious transfer student was something exciting. The teacher waved over at the door and Nanoha watched as a red haired boy dressed in their schools uniform walked into the classroom. His steps were slow and he looked over at the classroom in confusion as if wondering what he was doing here. The teacher smiled encouragingly at the boy and gave him a small push forward. "Go on, introduce yourself."_

_The boy blinked for a moment and looked up at the teacher who nodded at him. He slowly turned forward to face the class and bowed. "My name is Emiya Shirou."_

_His voice was clear and cut through the children's chatter, but it had no emotion. The boy had just said the words as a formality and straightened up right away to stare at the back of the room again. Nanoha looked over at the boy and for a moment she caught the boy's eyes. They were a pretty golden color. However, it seemed like his eyes were dull, like they were missing that vital spark that every person carried with them. Then the boy looked away at something else and the moment was lost._

"_I hope to get along with all of you. Please take care of me." With the formality out of the way, the boy looked up at the teacher again for instruction. _

_The teacher cheerfully pointed out to an empty desk and the boy quickly sat down as if to quickly exit the focus of the class. The class quickly returned to routine and continued the lesson from the day from before. However, for Nanoha, her attention was drawn back to the boy that was sitting a few seats away from her. She kept looking over at him, almost as if she was hoping to see those gold eyes again. _

…

_Nanoha watched the boy intently. It turned into something of a hobby for her. The sight of those empty gold eyes had filled her with curiosity and she wondered what could make a boy her age look like that. _

_For the first week, Shirou had been rather silent. Not really talking to anyone or making any attempt to make friends at all. But that seemed to change one day almost over night. The boy was suddenly all smiles and helping people in his class and then in the entire school. If a teacher needed help with a task then Shirou would be the first to volunteer. If a kid had broken a toy, Shirou would take it to someone that could fix it, or learn how to fix it himself. It seemed like wherever the boy was, there were never a lack of smiles. It was fascinating how quickly the boy had changed from his initial introduction, but something still bothered Nanoha about the boy. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something off about him._

_But the more Nanoha watched Shirou help others, the more something stood out to her. Whenever Shirou was helping people, he would smile and encourage the other person. He would make sure that they were happy, but he never stayed around to share in that happiness. He would hand over a fixed toy or stand up to a bully and then leave without even taking in the thanks of the person he had helped. It annoyed Nanoha for reasons that she couldn't understand. _

_Eventually, after watching him help someone for what felt like the hundredth time, Nanoha realized what was bothering her so much about Shirou. _

_Those empty golden eyes._

_Those eyes would be filled with emotion when he was helping people or when he was trying to do something, but after the deed was done, he would fade back into that empty looking boy that she had seen the day he transferred into class. It bothered her, that someone that was doing their best to make everyone else happy wasn't happy themselves._

_So she decided to do something about it._

…

_Emiya Shirou had no idea what was happening. He had helped one of the older students put up some flyers for a teacher when a brown haired girl that he vaguely remembered being in his class ran over and dragged him away. To his credit, he did struggle a bit, but his reluctance to hurt the girl along with her determination to speak to him alone had made it a losing battle. The girl dragged him to the rooftop of the school and looked around and when she saw that the place was empty, released Shirou's arm._

"_Uh…Takamachi-san. Did you need help with something?" People had started to realize that Shirou was good at helping people and went to him for help with stuff. It was mostly kids in his class but the news was starting to spread. _

_However the brown hair girl had not come to ask him for a favor or for his aid. No it was the complete opposite. The girl looked angry and had placed her hands on her hips as she glared at him. Shirou swallowed and took a step backwards. He didn't know what he had done to deserve that look, but some instinctual part of him realized that he should probably make up for whatever it was he had done. "Uh… I'm sorry?"_

_It seems those were the wrong words to say as the girl threw her arms up in the air. "You're sorry? What are you even sorry for? Why are you always like this?"_

_Shirou took another step backwards as the girl walked towards him. He did not like the expression that was on her face. He backpedaled more, but stumbled over his own feet and fell. Shirou gulped as the girl loomed over him and flinched when she pointed at him. _

"_Listen carefully, because this is very important." Shirou gave the girl his full attention. His instincts were shouting at him that this situation was a bad one, but it was too late to do anything but accept it. _

"_From now on." The girl was absolutely serious about this. There would be no arguing with her no matter what she declared. "You will be my friend."_

_Shirou stared at the girl who was still pointing down at him for a moment before her words actually registered. "Eh?"_

_Nanoha stomped one of her feet in anger. "You're going to be my friend and I'm going to be your friend. You're always working so hard to make everyone happy. So why are you not happy yourself?!"_

_Shirou just stared at the girl in front of him. He wanted to say something back, but the sheer shock of the situation hadn't completely faded just yet. "I-"_

"_No!" Nanoha interrupted him. "You don't get to argue. I've seen you whenever you think no one is around. You always make such a sad face. You aren't happy at all. So I'm going to make sure you are happy."_

_Shirou just nodded before the girl got even angrier. He had the feeling that if he tried to argue he would loss and if he argued long enough that things would escalate into him getting hit. He didn't know why he was afraid of the girl in front of him, but he had the feeling that he didn't want to be hit by her._

…

"Hey, I wasn't that scary!" Nanoha complained.

Shirou shook his head at her denial. "Are you kidding me? I was terrified of you. You declared yourself my friend and dragged me over to the Midoriya to introduce me to your family." That had opened up a bag of worms in itself. The whole, 'I'm living by myself because my father left on a trip for an indefinite amount of time' thing had not gone well with the Takamachi family when they asked him about his family. Neither had the whole, 'I am an orphan because a large fire nearly killed me but managed to wipe out my family' thing either. Shirou still wasn't sure how he escaped from being smothered by both Momoko-san and Miyuki-san.

Shirou shook his head as he realized that he was getting off track. "But that's not why I wanted you to remember that day. I wanted you to remember how annoying it was for a person you care about struggle with their own problems when they have help. For one of your friends to say everything is fine when you can see that they have a big problem that is bothering them. I hate to say it, but you probably know that feeling all too well because of me."

Shirou scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He had burdened the entire Takamachi family a lot in past. It was probably the reason that he was so reluctant to stay over there when he was left alone.

Nanoha nodded and frowned again. Shirou was someone that took on the burdens of others while keeping all of his own problems bottled up. She frequently had to trick him into telling her when Kiritsugu was out of town or when he was having trouble with something. It was frustrating to want to help someone, but having no idea how to do so. Even worse was when the person you were trying to help refused to accept it. "Alisa-chan…"

Shirou stood up and gathered his things. "I'm not saying we should tell them everything, but we can't say that nothing is happening either. Just… just let them worry about you, okay?"

Nanoha looked up at Shirou and nodded. However, her expression quickly turned to one of annoyance. "Let them worry about you, huh? Shirou is such a hypocrite!"

"W-wha?" Shirou took a step back as an irate Nanoha stood up and poked him in the chest. "I don't-"

"You should take your own advice." Nanoha walked past Shirou in a huff and continued towards home without him.

Shirou stood there for a moment and tried to get past the flashback of an angry six year old Nanoha looming over him. "What just happened?"

…

Shirou adjusted the bag he was carrying and looked up at the night sky with a frown. He had made a quick stop at home to check in with his dad before meeting Nanoha and Yuuno for a patrol around the city. The three of them had combed the city for a few hours with no sign of any trouble. Shirou noticed that Nanoha was still distracted by something, but his attention was on the ferret riding on his head. The two of them were having a conversation about Magecraft and in specifics the utility of Reinforcement and Shirou's Structural Analysis when he bumped into Nanoha.

Shirou turned his attention to the girl and saw that she was looking up at one of those large television screens. It was displaying some odd advertisement for a camera along with the time in the corner of the screen. Shirou was about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke up.

"Ah, I might be out of time. I'll need to go home."

Shirou looked over at the large screen again and realized that it was getting late. He felt Yuuno shift on top of his head to face Nanoha. "Don't worry about it. I'll stay around here and search a little longer."

Shirou nodded softly so he didn't displace the ferret. "I can stick around for a bit longer too."

Nanoha frowned. "Are the both of you going to be alright?"

Shirou rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine. Dad knows that I'm going to be out late so he'll order take out."

Or so Shirou hoped. His father was many things, a magus, a hero, and his father, but the one thing he was not was a cook. Shirou's passion for cooking had started as a necessity rather than a hobby. The last time Kiritsugu had tried to cook had been a disaster. Shirou had spent hours scouring their frying pan to get it back into usable condition.

Yuuno nodded and smiled at Nanoha. "We'll be fine. Go home and get some dinner, alright?"

Nanoha gave Shirou and Yuuno a wave goodbye before running off to get back home. Shirou watched the girl until she was out of sight before turning around and continuing his patrol. He felt Yuuno move from on top of his head to his shoulder and turned towards the ferret. "So, where were we?"

Yuuno's expression turned serious as he recalled their conversation from a few moments ago. "We were discussing Reinforcement."

Shirou nodded. "Right, I don't really recall everything Kiritsugu told me, but he mentioned that Reinforcement is not the strengthening of the physical shell of an object. It does that too, but its main use is to strengthen the utility of the object. Like if I reinforced a sword it wouldn't just be more durable, but it would be sharper too."

The two of them continued their conversation for a little bit before Shirou felt Yuuno stiffen on his shoulder. Before he could ask him what was wrong he felt a surge of magical energy assault his senses. Ozone, though it was different from before. The sky had darkened after the surge of magic and Shirou could see clouds filled with lightning covering the sky.

"A forced activation spell in the city?! This is dangerous. Shirou we need to move!" Shirou felt Yuuno jump off his shoulder and saw him create a magic seal on the ground. Shirou looked up and swallowed hard at the sight of the thundering sky. It was unreal that a girl his age could create such an effect.

"Shirou!" The boy turned his attention back from the raging heavens to his friend. "I'll set up a barrier and call Nanoha. You scout ahead and see if you can find the Jewel Seed."

Shirou nodded and steeled his resolve. He ran forward towards the source of the magic energy. He dodged past some people before he felt another rush of power pass over him and saw the people vanish from the streets. Yuuno had set up the barrier. Shirou pulled out the two wooden swords that he had thrown into his bag and picked up speed towards the build up of magical energy. Shirou was hoping that he could get to the Jewel Seed before Fate could find it. He was ready to fight, but he wasn't exactly confident about his chances for a win. He hadn't been able to close his Magic Circuits yet and his Reinforcement had been shaky so far. But he had been able to succeed for the first time in the heat of battle, so he was kind of hoping the same thing would happen here in the worst case scenario.

The boy had made it about halfway to the Jewel Seed when two blasts of magic cut through the night sky. The first one was pink and the other one yellow and they both converged somewhere in front of him. Shirou swore as he realized that meant that both Fate and Nanoha had found the Jewel Seed and would be moving towards another confrontation.

"Nanoha…" Shirou picked up his pace and hoped to god that he would make it in time to aid his friend.

…

Shirou slowed his run down into a jog when he saw Nanoha standing alone in front of the Jewel Seed. There was no sign of Fate or that woman that Yuuno said was with her. He was about to stop to catch his breath when he caught a blur of motion heading towards her.

"Nanoha!"

Shirou was in motion as soon as he realized there was an attack. The Od that was coursing through his body from the open Magic Circuits surged through his limbs and empowered them beyond human limits. Far beyond what a nine year old should be capable of doing. Shirou jumped above Nanoha and met the red familiar's claws with his own wooden swords.

Arf's eyes widened for a moment before she lashed out again and threw Shirou backwards. Shirou flew backwards and rolled back to his feet. He watched as Arf landed and launched herself at Nanoha again, only to crash into a green barrier. Shirou looked over to the side to see Yuuno running towards them. The ferret jumped next to the boy and nodded to him.

Shirou turned his attention forward and saw the girl, Fate, standing on top of a light post staring down at all of them. Shirou tightened his grip on both of his swords and pushed the fire coursing through his veins to the back of his mind. He looked over at Nanoha and was surprised at the determination he saw in her eyes. After seeing her so hesitant earlier in the day, it was refreshing to see her back to normal.

"Last time, we couldn't introduce ourselves properly." Nanoha stared up at the girl that had plagued her thoughts for the last few days and was determined to communicate with her. "My name is Nanoha. Takamachi Nanoha. A third grader who attends Seishou Auxiliary Elementary School."

Shirou blinked and wondered if Nanoha was serious. He knew that the girl had come to some answer to her problems, but he didn't expect her to introduce herself to the enemy Mage. Before he could question Nanoha, or even introduce himself, the girl had shifted her Device into Scythe Form.

"Where do you think you're looking at?"

Shirou twisted around just in time to see Arf rushing at him claws barred. He threw his arms up to protect his face when another flash of green repelled the dog familiar.

"Wha?" Shirou looked over at the small magic sigil that was hovering in front of him. He had forgotten that Yuuno had gotten some of his magic back.

Yuuno let down the barrier, Shirou was a lot stronger than before if that jump from before said anything, but he wasn't quick strong enough to go against Arf without backup. "Shirou, I'll back you up, but be careful."

Shirou nodded and saw that Arf had recovered from crashing into Yuuno's barrier and was snarling at the both of them. "Do you think I'm afraid of a tiny ferret familiar and a servant boy!" She rushed forward and lunged at the boy.

"My name is-" Shirou rushed forward and clashed against her only to be thrown backwards again from the dog's greater strength.

"I don't care what you're name is!"

Shirou got back to his feet and rolled to the side to dodge another attack. Arf slid to a stop and charged again. It soon became a game of cat and mouse as Shirou barely managed to evade Arf darting at him over and over again. The boy gritted his teeth as Arf came close to hitting him but just managing to claw at his back. His lungs were burning with every breath and his limbs were starting to feel like lead. He was moving way beyond his limit through Reinforcement. He needed an opening.

Ask and you shall receive.

"What?!" Arf cried out as green chains erupted from thin air all around her and bound her legs to the floor.

"Now!" Yuuno called out from the other side of Arf. The ferret must have been preparing this trap.

Shirou rushed forward and swung both of his swords and slammed them into Arf sending her crashing into a truck parked on the street. The dog familiar dented the steel truck before slowly getting back to her feet with a snarl.

"You little brats!"

Shirou jumped out of the way of another lunge and started to run as Arf chased after him. He passed by Yuuno with a grin as the ferret managed to bind the dog familiar a second time to give Shirou some breathing room. Another shockwave from the sky made Shirou look into the sky to watch the black and white blurs crash against one another. Shirou gritted his teeth as he realized that Nanoha was out of reach when he saw something.

"Yuuno, take care of her!" Shirou called back to the ferret as he ran towards the center of the street.

"Eh?" Yuuno turned over to see what Shirou was doing and paled. "Shirou, wait!"

But the boy didn't hear his friends call. He was running straight for the Jewel Seed that was floating in the center of the street. This was the item that they were all battling for. If he could secure it and get away, then the battle would be over and none of them would have to fight any longer.

"Oh no you don't!" Shirou turned back to see that Arf had broken whatever binding magic Yuuno had used on her and was chasing after him. Shirou swore and picked up the pace. He raced forward and focused on the floating gem. He ignored the clashing white and black blurs in the sky. He ignored the flashes of pink and yellow as two girls broke every law of magic he thought he knew. He ignored the angry red familiar that was racing on his heels to keep him from the Jewel Seed. He even ignored Yuuno's frantic yelling as he raced to stop him. Shirou could only see the Jewel Seed.

The boy got close enough and jumped into the air just in time for Arf to miss another lunge. Shirou reached forward and wrapped his fingers around the Jewel Seed.

And then his world caught fire.

…

_The world that he saw was made solely of fire and smoke. Shirou wanted to scream but found no air to breathe. His mind burned. There was nothing left to fight with as he suffered in the flames of this world. _

_It's hot_

_The heat from this world was beyond unbearable. His body seemed to be changing into something else. Foreign material seemed to smash into his body to forge it into some different. The fire burns deep into his body setting every bit of his body on fire. It wanted to change him from the smallest cell._

_It's hot_

_The flames seemed to start within his own body, flowing out and around him. The fire doesn't stop and continues to pour out like a fountain. _

_It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot It's hot_

"_Gah!"_

_Then it hits him. A fierce wind picks up and invades this world of flames. But rather than blow the fire out, the wind simply fans the flames hotter, and larger. Shirou wants to scream as the steel like pressure of the wind crushes him as the flames burn even hotter. _

_His mind melts as the flames attempt to mold him into something he's not. Information that isn't his floods into his mind like an unstoppable torrent. Information that has no place in his mind invades his mind._

_The first were swords, swords of all ages and countries. Each of these swords was a masterpiece, flawless in their recreation. Information about each sword invades his mind. Their history, their age, every swing that was made with them. Beyond that was their forging practices and every single detail of their framework, to the point of their mystical properties. Each blade help magic that went beyond mankind's ability to replicate and yet the need information to duplicate their effects poured into his mind. The information for one of these blades would have filled his mind for ages and yet there seemed to be a limitless amount of them and the information for each was forced into his mind all at once._

_A magic that was beyond his capabilities. The ability to duplicate these flawless weapons. No it's not even close to duplication, and it goes beyond even Projection. It's a magic that he can and cannot understand all at once. _

_More and more information pours into him. He watches as battles are forced upon him. Battles that he never could even dream of where played in his mind. He had never fought in them, and yet their experiences were forced into his mind. A battle in a wasteland against countless enemies. Fighting against a _ knight, _ in red, a raging beast wielding _ , a smirking man in _ with _ floating behind him, memory after memory flooded into Shirou's mind. Names and faces blurred together as century after century, and world after world poured into his being._

_Blood seemed to flood into the world and drown him, but the flames were still there, the wind was still crushing him. _

_It was too much. He couldn't bare it all. It was like trying to pour an ocean into a single gallon container. It was impossible. _

_So the boy burned._

…

The battle raged in the sky. Two girls clad in white and black fought in the sky. The heavens flashed pink and yellow as both girls attempted to defeat the other. And yet, there was a subdued atmosphere.

Nanoha had been trying to talk to Fate the entire battle. She had tried to convince the girl to at least tell her why she was looking for the Jewel Seeds. She had even poured out her own reasons for helping Yuuno look for the Jewel Seeds to get the girl talking, but it looked like it wasn't meant to be. Just as Fate looked ready to talk a familiar voice cried out to them.

"Nanoha! You need to stop him!"

Both of the girls looked down to see the red haired boy rushing towards the Jewel Seed. Both Arf and Yuuno were rushing after the boy, but it seems his new found speed and the head start he had been too much.

"Shirou!" Nanoha rushed down to prevent the boy from grabbing the Jewel Seed remembering what happened last time a person activated a Jewel Seed, but was stopped by a flash of yellow. Fate had used Nanoha's lapse in attention to swing Bardiche and knock her back before speeding towards the Jewel Seed. Nanoha tumbled backwards in the air before rushing after the girl.

But that second delay had been too much. Had the both of them simply rushed to stop the boy they may have made it.

The boy grabbed the Jewel Seed and the world was engulfed in light. The force of the Jewel Seed activating slammed into everyone and sent them all flying backwards. Nanoha was able to regain her balance again. When she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"What… what is this?"

When the boy from before had activated the Jewel Seed, it had created a tree. A massive tree that had damaged the entire city with its grown, but it had just been a tree. This was nothing like that at all. The entire city looked like it had been devastated. Large sections of the city seemed to have disappeared completely only to be replaced with a wasteland. The buildings that were left had chunks missing from them and all of them looked like they were falling apart. The sky was filled with smoke and smog obscuring everything from sight but she could see rusty gears turning and falling apart in the distance. The ground was scorched clean of any sign of life and Nanoha could see fire dancing around at random all over the streets.

The city wasn't silent either. Voices could be heard from all over. All of them were crying out the same message. 'Save me,' 'help me,' and 'make it stop' but there was no salvation for the sources of these voices. No, they would go unheard even with the additions to this world. The cries rose up into the air and merged together into a wave of agony and resentment that weighed down on the entire world. There was no doubt that this was a hellish world.

However, through all the chaos and all the strife, through all the destruction and all the death, Nanoha could only see one thing. A single figure slowly and aimlessly walking forward.

"Shirou!"

The white clad girl descended to the hellish world, but the world sensing the foreign element reacted. A silver blur rained down from the sky to impale the girl only to be stopped by a green barrier.

"Nanoha!"

The weapon was deflected by the barrier and as it fell down to the flames below Nanoha could see what it was. A sword, jagged and half forged, but the weapon had been intended to be a sword. The girl was broken out of her thoughts when a familiar weight landed on her shoulder.

"Yuuno-kun. What… what is this?" The girl looked around at the city with tears in eyes. This was the exact kind of thing that she had been fighting to prevent. How had it become like this. "Why is the city…?"

"Nanoha, this isn't Uminari City." That statement caused the girl to freeze. Though that was probably a bad choice as Yuuno had to block another sword that had tried to impale the girl. "Whatever Jewel Seed did with Shirou didn't affect the city at all. The Jewel Seed seemed to have consumed my barrier and used it to create this world. Uminari is still untouched by all of this."

Those words were a relief to the girl. She had been trying so hard to protect the city and seeing it destroyed like this, even if it was an illusion, was heartbreaking. But if Yuuno was right, then the city was still safe. Her family and friends were still safe… except…

"Shirou." The girl looked around frantically for the boy. Luckily he hadn't really moved far from his position. The girl frowned as she spotted something close to the boy. She squinted and gasped as she realized what the object was. Nanoha dove down without giving Yuuno any warning causing the ferret to squeak in surprise and hold onto the girl as she rushed to her friend's rescue.

Except there was no rescue necessary. Nanoha dodged swords and fire frantically to get to her friend and quickly landed in front of the boy. She raised Raising Heart in a defensive stance but stopped when she saw the look on Arf and Fate. Fate had come to face the boy and completely froze at the sight of him. Arf had come to yell at her but also stood behind the girl and stared at the boy in horror. The golden haired girl had a look of complete horror on her face and the hand that was holding out Bardiche was shaking in fear.

"Oh god…" The soft whisper from Yuuno made Nanoha turn around. The sight of her childhood friend was almost enough to make her drop Raising Heart. Her free hand rose to her lips as she gasped.

Shirou's appearance seemed to match the hellish world that surrounded them. The boy was covered in terrible burns. There were holes in his shirt from where the fire had burned through and she could see the burnt flesh beneath it as it healed only to be consumed by the heat of the area again and again. The boy's red hair was covered in ashes, painting white streaks down his head. However the fire wasn't the only thing that was plaguing him. The boy's skin was covered in what looked to be scales. When Nanoha looked closer she realized that no, those weren't scales, but blades. Tiny blades that were interlocked together, pushing themselves out of the boy's skin. Nanoha wanted to cry as she looked at her friend, and the urge doubled itself as she looked him in the eyes. There was no life in those golden-colored eyes. They were empty and unseeing. The boy kept slowly moving forward and eventually passed the frozen white-clad girl. Shirou had not seen her, he could not see his friend. The only thing he could see was the fire-consumed world that surrounded him.

"S-shirou…?" Nanoha slowly reached a hand towards him, but flinched back as her Barrier Jacket activated to prevent one of the blades from cutting her hand. The boy walked forward, a slow stagger that screeched on every step. For the blades that Nanoha saw went much deeper than mere skin. Shirou's bones had all been turned into blades. Every step was agony as his muscles were torn by the blades with each movement. Every breath was followed by his lungs being pierced by the blades that protruded from his ribs. Every wound, internal and external, was healed by an unknown force, only for his body to be torn and burned again.

He must be in so much pain, the girl thought. So why doesn't he stop moving? Wouldn't it be better to fall over? What would drive someone to keep going in this kind of world? What kind of person would wish for this kind of world?

"-ha… Nanoha!" The girl broke out of her thoughts and turned slowly to Yuuno with despair written on her face. The ferret swallowed his own feelings and nodded to the girl. "You need to seal the Jewel Seed. That'll dispel this barrier and hopefully turn Shirou back to normal."

"Sealing Mode." The device toned out as it quickly readjusted some of its parts for sealing. Nanoha nodded and raised Raising Heart. "Serial Number XIV."

"Sealing Mode." Nanoha turned in surprise to find Fate standing next to her with Bardiche pointed at Shirou. Her face had once again been schooled into that emotionless expression that she wore so often, but Nanoha could see the fear and hesitation in her eyes. "Serial Number XIV."

"Shirou…" Nanoha looked at the back of her friend and wondered what wish he had been thinking of to create this world. The image of the boy walking forward blurred for a moment and Nanoha rubbed her eyes to find that she was crying. The girl shook her head and pointed Raising Heart at Shirou ignoring the tears that were running down her cheeks. "Raising Heart, please."

"Sealing!" The Device answered its master's plea and fired out a pink blast of magic.

"Sealing!" Bardiche took the cue and fired along side the other Device.

The twin blasts raced forward and crashed into the boy's back. The world went silent and for a moment, when the cries for help were gone, Nanoha could hear a man's voice, too soft to make out what he was saying, in the distance.

…

_Shirou had grasped something forbidden and now he was being punished for it. He was losing something important, but at the same time it was being replaced by something similar. His body ached at the loss but at the same time attempted to adjust to the new information placed in it. That precious thing was gone, but, at the same time, it was still there. It was confusing and painful and the cycle was starting to erode Shirou away._

_He had wished for something. He remembered that much. He had wished for something that could not be obtained. Wasn't that what his father had taught him? And yet he had wished for it all the same. He was being punished for his wish. _

_The boy slowly started to let go. His mind was being eroded away, even as some unseen magic attempted to piece it back together and add new pieces at the same time. There was nothing left for him to grasp onto. The anchors that he had set had been destroyed and recreated so many times that the boy no longer knew what or who he was._

_But even though his memory had been fragmented, it still remembered. A single moment of focus was enough for the boy to piece together a complete memory. One detail lead to another and another until the boy could almost see the people in his mind. Like following the links in a chain until reaching the source._

_The boy remembered a man. His features were blurred but Shirou remembered that he was important. "__There will always be some that cannot be saved. It is impossible to save everyone. If I have to lose five hundred to earn one thousand, I will abandon one hundred and save the lives of nine hundred. That is the most efficient method. That is the ideal."_

_Anger filled the boy and gave him the strength to speak in this whirlwind of fire and steel. "No… that's not right… That's not right! The ideal should be to save everyone!"_

_Just as soon as it came the image of the man was gone. The wind and fire blow away the image and the memory passes only for another one to follow._

"_Why do you always have to be like that?!" A small girl in white is glaring at him. The girl's face is blurred and out of focus. "Why can't you put yourself first for once?!"_

_Shirou shook his head. "Because I don't deserve to put myself first. I… I want to help people… is that feeling so wrong?"_

"_Of course it's not wrong." The girl's voice had died down to a whisper. "But, who is going to help those people if you work yourself to death?"_

_Shirou shakes his head and tries his hardest to make out the girl's face. The name falls within his reach. "Nano-"_

_The girl is lost in the roar of the wind. Just like the man before the girl disappears in a flash of steel and fire. The boy howls at the loss as his body is crushed and burned. He wills his body to move and rages against the steel winds. To force them to bring them back, but it is a useless effort. He cannot fight the winds, and cannot move the world. So the boy makes one last effort. He pushes all his energy to at least look up. And when he does, he sees something. An object just out of sight, but before he can look past the wind and burn the image into his mind the object is obscured by two flashes of pink and yellow light._

_And the world stopped._

…

Light seemed to have cut through the world. Nanoha shut her eyes and raised a hand to shield them from the intense light. There is a loud roaring noise as the world around them is forcibly reverted back to its natural state. When the noise died down, the girl slowly opened her eyes.

The city had returned to normal. Or rather, it had returned to the barrier that Yuuno had set up before the Jewel Seed had activated. There was still no sound from the city as it was empty within the barrier, but there was no sign of the fire or destruction from the Jewel Seed. Nanoha let out a breath of relief before looking up. She could see Shirou's body on the floor and she ran up to the boy and checked him over for any lasting damage. None of the burns were on his body and there were no swords pushing themselves from his skin. He was breathing alright and there was no metal noise from the small movements as he breathed in and out.

"Thank god." Nanoha smiled at the boy's sleeping face. The boy didn't look completely comfortable but he didn't look in pain either.

"Scythe Form."

Nanoha froze as a blazing yellow blade was placed at her neck. Arf had Yuuno pinned down and was watching the both of them. Nanoha turned slowly to see Fate looking down at the boy in confusion. "The Jewel Seed."

Nanoha blinked for a moment before noticing that the Jewel Seed was nowhere to be found. Normally when she sealed the Jewel Seed it came out of the object that activated it, but she couldn't see it anywhere. "Is it still inside him?" Nanoha looked down at Shirou and hoped to god that wasn't true. She didn't want that thing anywhere near Shirou after what had just happened.

"I see." The girl closed her eyes for a moment before coming to a decision. Bardiche was swung down at Nanoha. Raising Heart quickly activated a barrier but the attack did its job and launched the girl away from Shirou. Arf transformed and threw the boy over her shoulder. Before either Nanoha or Yuuno could recover the three of them were gone. Nanoha looked around in a panic. She couldn't see them anywhere.

"No, bring him back!" Nanoha flew into the air and tried to spot Fate or Arf but no matter where she looked she couldn't find anything. Both the skies and the city were empty. They had disappeared and along with them was her best friend.

"Shirou!"

* * *

><p><em>AN:Wow, this was a heavy chapter. This was probably the first thing that I thought of when I started writing this story and looking back of how much the scene evolved, I'm pretty proud of myself as an author.<em>

_I rewrote the Jewel Seed a bit to have it make more sense. A bigger edit than most of these things, but one I felt was needed._

_I wasn't originally planning on having Fate kidnap Shirou, but it seemed like such a fun plot point to have, so I threw it in._

_Anyways, tell me what you think._


	5. Chapter 5: Limited Blade Works

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Five: **

**Limited Blade Works**

* * *

><p><em>"If I can, I'd prefer if nobody was sad. If I can make people around me happy just by helping them myself, I think that would make the world a more pleasant place to live in."<em>

_That was Kiritsugu's favorite phrase. It was something Shirou heard pretty often. It was also something that he didn't really understand yet. His world was simple: the house, Kiritsugu and maybe, just maybe, that weird girl that had declared herself his friend. Yet, Kiritsugu was a superhero. He probably wanted to help more people than the ones around him._

_"I was reckless when I was young. I educated myself by cursing the heartlessness of the world." Kiritsugu chuckled to himself as he recalled his past actions. "The world was cruel… so I made myself even more heartless and used that as a weapon, trying to follow my ideals."_

_Shirou frowned as he tried to figure out the meaning of his father's words. He couldn't picture his father as a heartless person no matter how hard he tried. His image of Kiritsugu was the kind father, the super hero, and that smiling man who pulled him out of the fire. To think of that man as heartless was impossible._

_"There will always be some that cannot be saved. It is impossible to save everyone. If I have to lose five hundred to earn one thousand, I will abandon one hundred and save the lives of nine hundred. That is the most efficient method. That is the ideal."_

_Shirou heard those words and got angry. It's not a rational anger, because he understood that Kiritsugu is correct. It's impossible to save everyone. There was simply no way to save everyone. However, even if it was irrational, Shirou still felt anger. Even if it was impossible, the ideal should be to save everyone._

_So he said that. He yelled at his own father. Kiritsugu just smiled sadly down at him. "You're right, Shirou. The result is the most important thing. But with that aside, your heart trying to do so is…"_

_The man trails off quietly and thought about how to word his next point carefully. Shirou was shocked by his father's answer. "Your heart trying to do is not healthy, Shirou."_

_"Eh?"_

_Kiritsugu patted Shirou's head and chuckled at the boy's confusion. "I don't expect you to understand at your age, but wanting to save everyone is not healthy at all. You'll constantly be striving for something impossible and live a life of failure and compromises. Even if you wish to save everyone, you'll be forced to trade some lives for others, and every time you do you will be betraying that ideal a little more."_

_Shirou wanted to make an argument, he really did, but he knew his father was right. He didn't understand the words that Kiritsugu were saying, but he knew that his father was speaking the truth._

_…_

"What do you mean you can't get it out?!"

Fate watched the boy's face shift to a painful grimace from the loud noise before speaking. "The Jewel Seed will not exit his body. I have attempted to seal the Jewel Seed like before, but it has been ineffective."

Arf scowled and glared at the boy warily. "Do you think it had something to do with the Jewel Seed's odd reaction to the boy?"

Fate flinched at the reminder of the event and closed her eyes. "I do not know. The Jewel Seeds are unpredictable and their use is unknown. They are supposed to be affected by desire, but…"

"I don't see how any child can wish for something like that." Arf shuddered as she remembered how Shirou looked after the Jewel Seed activated. "These things are a lot more dangerous than we first thought."

A groan from the boy caught both of their attentions and they stared at him as he squirmed in his sleep. Fate laid a hand on his head and nodded when she realized that his temperature had dropped a little. The boy had been fine when they brought him in, but when she attempted to extract the Jewel Seed his body had not been able to take the strain of the sealing magic. Fate was afraid that the strain had killed the boy, but again he had exceeded her expectations.

The girl closed her eyes and tried to recall a brief memory.

"Shirou."

Arf paused and looked over at her master in confusion. "White?"

Fate shook her head and pushed the boy's hair out of his face. There was an expression of discomfort and his face was scrunched up as if he was struggling with something. "No, the boy's name, it's Shirou."

"Hmph, his name should be Chaos. He's certainly caused enough of it." Arf huffed at the boy who had settled back into his restless sleep. The boy just shifted in his sleep as he attempted to sift through the information that was poured into his mind.

_It was another memory of his past. He had gotten into a spot of trouble -a fight with some older boys-while helping someone and had been injured in the process. He had planned to just stagger home and patch himself up, but Nanoha had spotted him and dragged him to her house to get treated._

_"Why would you get in a fight with three older boys?" Nanoha threw her arms in the air in exasperation. She had been friends with Shirou for about a year, but she still couldn't believe the amount of trouble he could get himself into by helping other people._

_Shirou scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Well, they were harassing a girl in an alleyway. So I tackled one of them and started to hit them. The fight kinda started from there, but I did make sure the girl got away."_

_"Mou, why didn't you get help or something?" The girl huffed at his recklessness. "You helped the girl but got beaten up in return."_

_"Well, there wasn't anyone around and I needed to make sure the girl was alright. I don't really mind getting hurt if it means helping someone."_

_"Why do you always have to be like that?!" Nanoha glared at him. She couldn't understand why the boy would do that. "Why can't you put yourself first for once?!"_

_Shirou opened his mouth before closing it. He didn't know how to explain himself. He didn't know how to explain that he didn't deserve to put himself first. That his life had been saved already, so he should use it to help others. It was an unexplainable feeling, so there was no way for him to communicate the way his mind worked. "I… I want to help people… is that feeling so wrong?"_

_"Of course it's not wrong." The girl's voice had died down to a whisper. "But, who is going to help those people if you work yourself to death?"_

_"Nanoha…" Shirou whispered as he saw the tears beginning to gather in the corner of the girl's eyes. "I…"_

_"I'm going to make sure of it." The girl wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at Shirou intently. "Shirou is too stupid to take care of himself, so I'll have to do it."_

_"Eh?" Shirou blinked at the declaration. "Wait a second, you can't just-"_

_"No arguing. I'll make sure Shirou is okay, and Shirou will make sure I'm okay." Nanoha cut him off before he could start. "It's a deal."_

_Shirou sighed as he was once again beaten into an agreement by this girl, but smiled and accepted the hand that Nanoha offered him. "Deal."_

"Ugh…" Light cut through the room and slid over the boy's eyes. His mind, after spending hours sifting through memories and organizing his shattered mind, slowly began to return to its normal functions. He tried to open his eyes and, after a brief struggle, succeeded.

He opened his eyes and let his gaze fall around the room. He was lying on a couch next to a large set of windows. He could see a city of some sort outside, but it didn't look familiar at all. Then again, he couldn't really recall what familiar would look like.

The boy slowly sat up and gazed around the room. It didn't look familiar at all. It was an apartment of some kind, rather spartan. A lamp, the couch, and a coffee table were the only things that seemed to be in the room at all.

*PSSSHHH*

The boy blinked as he found himself standing somewhere else. He blinked and looked around for the couch he had been sitting on. He saw it on the floor below him. He focused on the last few minutes to recall what had happened. He had seen something and moved to the next floor of the rather empty apartment. It was a simple picture of a mother and daughter holding hands. He thought that he had seen the daughter before, but he couldn't quite remember where.

"Where am I?" He placed the picture frame down and rubbed his head. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there at all. In fact, he couldn't really remember much at all.

"My name…" The boy stood still as he wracked his brain for his name. The image of a smiling man flashed through his mind before he finally grasped the vital information. "Emiya… Shirou…"

He nodded to himself. That was definitely his name. Shirou was happy with the success and tried to see if he could recall anything else, but nothing came to him. So without any memories to work with, Shirou just worked with his environment. The place was messy, so he quickly went around cleaning the place. There were several containers for food lying around. He gave a can with some chopsticks a quick look and was confused when he realized he was holding dog food. Why were there chopsticks in dog food?

*PSSSHHH*

Shirou blinked as he realized that he was gathering some sheets in his hand. Wasn't he just cleaning up?

He focused for a moment and recalled that he finished cleaning up every room and had decided to do the laundry. He rubbed his head and groaned. Time was still going too fast for him to keep track of what was going on. At least he could recall what was going on.

The boy found the laundry machine and measured the deter-

*PSSSHHH*

-hopping the carrots and setting them into the pot with the other vegetables. Shirou sighed when he saw that his memory had skipped again. He spent a minute to look at what he had pulled out and tried to figure out what he had been cooking from the steps that were taking. Browned meat set aside, potatoes and other chopped vegetables, oil, and various herbs and spices... "I'm cooking?"

Shirou scratched his head and guessed at the identity of his attempted dish. It was something he could make and the ingredients matched. He gave the meat a quick inspection and nodded to himself at the size of the cuts and the preparation. He hadn't practiced this dish for a while, so he was a little weary of his ability to cook it. But he was in a kitchen making food. That was enough to make Shirou happy. He turned towards the sauce that he was preparing and-

*PSSSHHH*

Set the pan on simmer after putting the finishing touches on it. Shirou froze as he looked down at the perfect dish below him. Hadn't he just started cooking that?

"Hmm, I guess it happened again." A small twitched developed as Shirou realized he had been stripped of his ability to enjoy cooking the meal. There was a brief moment of concentration before he found that he couldn't recall what he had done clearly. He had made a perfect dish, and he couldn't even remember what steps he had done differently. The boy sighed and just let his frustration go. He had finished the food, so that meant someone could eat a good meal.

"Ah." Shirou paused and looked around the apartment in confusion as he realized something important. "Who lives here again?"

The apartment was large so he had simply assumed that several people lived here. The picture he had seen before was of a mother and a daughter so hopefully there would be at least two people living here or else he would have made too much. It wasn't until that he thought who lived here that he recognized a problem. "I don't… live here, do I?"

Shirou tried to imagine his own house, but the more he focused the farther away the image seemed to get. He stood there until he got a headache from thinking about it, but he couldn't remember what his house looked like at all. The image of a Japanese styled house was superimposed on a Western house and blended together into something that couldn't be called a house at all. The boy shook off the headache and gave the apartment an odd look. He lived in a house that much he was sure of. So if he didn't live in this apartment, then why did he wake up here?

"Hey, he's gone!"

Shirou blinked as the sudden shout broke him out of his concentration. There was some sort of commotion in the other room. He could hear two different voices and a lot of scrambling. A small part of him was wondering if he shouldn't have wandered off to cook and clean, but the majority of his mind was just wondering who lived here.

"Ah, you're back." Shirou looked at the two people that probably lived here. There was a red-headed woman that oddly enough had dog ears, and a blonde girl that was about his age. The both of them were looking at him in complete surprise and the girl was pointing some odd axe thing at him. Shirou gave them his best smile and tried to suppress the sheepish expression that he felt. "I hope you don't mind, I cleaned up everything and cooked a meal."

"You…what?" The woman had a completely baffled expression on her face. "You cleaned?"

"And cooked." Shirou confirmed. "I didn't really remember why I was here, so I just kind of did what I normally do."

"So you cleaned the entire place and cooked a meal after waking up in a strange apartment?" Shirou nodded again, which caused the dog-woman to develop a twitch.

"Yep, I tried to recall how I got here, but I can't remember much at all at the moment." Shirou laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"The Jewel Seed must have damaged his memory." Shirou turned to the blonde girl who has made the axe of her disappear and was looking at him with the faintest expression of curiosity. It was at this moment that Shirou noticed the various lashes that littered the girl's body.

"Oh god, what the hell happened to you?!" Shirou grabbed the girl's arm and ignored how she flinched at the contact. There were lash makes all over the girl's arms, and when he looked closer he could see that they were all over her body, too. "We need to treat these right away."

"Hey, get away fro-"

*PSSSHHH*

Shirou blinked as time seemed to have skipped again. He had some sort of ointment in one arm and was holding the blond girl's arm in the other. The older lady was glaring at him but whatever outburst she had must have passed. He sighed in frustration and tried to recall what he had been doing for the last few minutes.

Shirou shook his head and smiled apologetically at the girl's startled expression. "Sorry, my memory went out again. I'll finish dressing these."

"Your memory?" The girl's voice was soft, almost like she was afraid of his reaction, but Shirou pushed that thought out of his head.

"Yeah, it's been going in and out. I'll be walking around the apartment and poof, I'm suddenly cooking. I can recall what I did in the gaps, but it takes some effort and I can't recall everything." Shirou casually shrugged at the problem like it was insignificant and focused on the girl's wounds. Eventually, he finished wrapping the girl's arm and gave her a quick look over. All the visible wounds had been treated and Shirou wasn't going anywhere near the ones that weren't visible at the time. He smiled brightly at a job well done. "There we go, that should be a bit better, right?"

Shirou was startled for a moment when a hand was placed on his forehead. The girl had leaned forward and was staring at him intently. "A fever too. The Jewel Seed must still be doing damage to your body."

"Jewel…Seed…?" Shirou slowly repeated as a wave of vertigo passed over him.

"It must be extracted before it can do more damage." The girl's voice was still barely at a whisper. Shirou swallowed hard as he realized that this was probably not a good position he was in.

"Wa-wait. Extracted? That sounds a little harsh." Shirou was about to start to back pedal when the girl's other arm grabbed his in a vice grip.

"I apologize, but I need that Jewel Seed now." Shirou tried to pull away but he was surprised when the girl's grip didn't give at all. A small golden triangle floated off her glove and transformed into the axe staff that she was holding earlier. "Bardiche, Jewel Seed Sealing."

"Serial Number XIV." The device toned out.

"Wai-Arrrrrggggghhhh!" Lightning ran through the boy's body and seeped into him to extract the Jewel Seed. Shirou convulsed within the girl's arms and screamed as the voltage began to rise. His free arm lashed out and nearly hit Fate before Arf quickly bound him with her magic.

"Please, endure it for a little longer." Fate felt her magic strain against the Jewel Seed's power and pushed more power into the boy.

"Urraaaaaaaaah!"

_The Jewel Seed could not be called sentient. After the desire of the host had been fulfilled the key priority that the Jewel Seeds took was survival. When the Jewel Seed within Shirou felt another attempt to extract it from its resting place, it had reacted and walled itself within the host. Normally this would not be enough because of the sheer magical force the extraction was using, but the Jewel Seed had found something to anchor itself to, a magical artifact that had fused itself almost completely within the boy's body._

_When more and more extraction attempts were made, the Jewel Seed fed more and more power into the artifact which bled the excess into Shirou. The energy levels could not compare to the initial reaction, but even this barest fraction was too much for the boy to handle._

_His body was burning itself from the inside out, and it desperately searched for a way to get rid of it._

_Hundreds of images flooded Shirou's mind. They were blueprints and conceptions to weapons, each of them were masterpieces in their own right, but he could not grasp them. In this state, they were useless to him and they were quickly discarded. Finally, his mind found a blueprint that it could work with._

_A small dojo that was connected to the side of a house. He had spent several hours training in here, but that was unimportant. His focus was on the twin blades that hung on the wall of the dojo. They were two kodachi that were displayed on the far dojo wall._

_Shirou's mind traced over the blades and took in everything. Every bit of history of the blade, ranging from their forging process to every swing of the blade, he absorbed all of it._

_The concept of construction, its basic structure, and the base materials were first. That was simple to analyze and the information was processed instantly thanks to Shirou's practice with Structural Analysis._

_The blacksmithing process was unfamiliar and he struggled briefly as his mind attempted to recall every process flawlessly._

_The next step was the most difficult. Sympathizing the years of growth and accumulating the years of experience that the blade possessed. It was a step beyond his ability, or rather it was a step that had been beyond his ability. The years of use, the times or rest, even the care for the blade were all accounted in this process._

_The blueprint was complete, and all that was left was to forge the weapon. The finest of materials rested within his soul, waiting to be used._

_Excelling every process of the sword's recreation._

_The excess magic flowed through his circuits and into the air. Both of Shirou's hands reached out to grasp their creations._

"Graaaah!" Both of Shirou's hands grasped on the handles of the twin blades and sliced through the bindings holding his body.

"What?" Fate jumped backwards and stared at the boy in fear. Had she activated the Jewel Seed by accident?

"Ha…ha…ha…" Shirou leaned over to catch his breathe before staring at his hands in confusion. His mind was cloudy and static seemed to dance over his vision, but he knew what he was looking at. The twin blades that laid in the Takamachi Dojo were in his hands. He looked up to see the blonde girl -no, her name was Fate, he recalled briefly- looking at him with an expression of fear on her face. Before he could reassure her about anything, he saw a blur of motion in the corner of his eye.

"Stay away from her!"

Shirou felt his body move on its own, almost as if the blades he was holding were directing it. He ducked under the familiar's lunge and swung the base of the hilt on the blade up, jamming it into the woman's stomach. The blow was made in an instant, and Arf barely had a moment to process that Shirou had moved from his examination of his swords to knocking the wind out of her body. The familiar took a step backwards and quickly regained her breathe. However, it was too late. Shirou had already twisted around her and swung the final blow.

Shirou pulled the blade back and watched as the woman hit the ground, unconscious. The boy had used the back of the blade to knock the woman out rather than kill her. His mind had barely been able process the techniques he was using, but he had been able to twist the killing blow into a non-lethal one.

"Photon Lancer!"

Shirou didn't have time to contemplate his new skills. He twisted around to see several lightning spears floating around Fate. The first one streaked forward and Shirou swung a blade to block it. The lightning surged into the blade and caused it to shatter. Shirou jumped backwards out of the way of the second and swung his other sword to block the next. It too shattered, leaving Shirou empty handed. To his surprise, the speed that he used to defeat Arf and dodge Fate's attack left him as soon as he lost his second blade.

The final lightning spear cut through the air and caught Shirou in the chest. It hurled him across the room, whereupon he crashed through the far wall into the adjoining room.

Fate sighed in relief that the blast had hit. She took a moment to make sure the boy didn't get back up before checking on Arf.

"Trace On!"

Fate heard the cry and turned around just in time to see a red blur rushing at her. She threw up a shield to defend herself, but to her surprise the blur shifted directions. The boy flipped over her and kicked off the roof to maneuver around the shield. Another pair of swords were in his hands, one swung up against Bardiche to prevent her from swinging it at him and the second hovering in front of her throat.

Shirou stared at the girl in front of him and struggled to keep his thoughts straight. He couldn't keep up with the sword's movements and his mind was still reeling from the electrical shock, let alone the strain that this mind was going through. Memories of his entire life were coursing through his consciousness and he couldn't keep up anymore.

"I… I have to go." Shirou's voice shook as he stared at the girl in front of him. "I need to get back."

Visions of his friends and family all whirled in his head, but he couldn't ignore the girl in front of him. She was covered in bandages and looked so scared. Memories of this girl flooded into his mind, and he found himself seeing a sad girl forced to fight. Shirou refused to leave it like this and pleaded with her. "Come with me. I can help you if you let me."

The girl's eyes widened for the briefest moment and Shirou swore he saw someone vulnerable standing there rather than the powerful mage that Nanoha had been fighting. But the expression disappeared quickly. "I canno-"

"Why!" The sudden shout from the boy startled the girl and caused her to take a step back. Shirou's hands were shaking at his own weakness. Here was a girl that needed help, but she wouldn't let him help. Was there nothing he could do? "If I can't help you, than Nanoha or Yuuno- one of us has to be able to help you!"

Shirou couldn't help himself. He wanted to aid this girl with all of his being, but he was still powerless. He couldn't help this one person in front of him, and the reality of that fact was harsh. Before he could say more, he heard Arf begin to stir. There was no way he could take the both of them.

Face to face with Fate, Shirou pleaded with her one last time. "Please, let us help you."

The desperation in Shirou's voice threw Fate's mind into confusion. Why, why did this boy want to help her so much? Why did he seem so sad that he couldn't help her? Weren't they supposed to be enemies?

Shirou saw the doubt in Fate's eyes and made his decision. "I don't know what's hurting you, but I swear I will save you."

Fate gasped at the promise. Golden eyes full of determination stared at her and she turned away to escape their gaze.

Shirou pulled both his blades back and slowly walked towards the door. He gave Fate one last glance before stumbling out of the apartment.

…

His body was breaking down. He couldn't even think straight anymore, and the brief moment of clarity that he had while fighting Arf and Fate had faded. Static filled his mind, drowning out the sound of the city around him. His vision would blur in and out, and Shirou was pretty sure that his left eye wasn't seeing straight even when his vision did work. His limbs felt heavy and filled with lead. The familiar ache of torn muscle told him he had pushed his body too far. Shirou knew that his body was in tatters, but he pressed on. He couldn't stop here, there was too much to do.

He stumbled past a building and tried to recall where he was. The city looked so unfamiliar. Buildings seemed to blend together and none of the landmarks looked familiar.

To make things worse, his memory had started to fragment again. There was no rhyme or reason to the fragmentation. His mind would hold for minutes at a time, and then randomly skip over seconds at a time. With his mind in this state, Shiou had no way to know where he was at any moment. The city had almost become a giant blur.

*PSSSHHH*

Shirou watched as the area around him turned to static and shifted into another area of the city.

Shirou stumbled forward and gave the unfamiliar street a confused look. "Damnit… W-where am I?" The boy whispered as the last of his strength finally fled his body.

…

Fate had followed the boy. She had left Arf at home despite her protests and watched the boy. His path was erratic and he would constantly change directions, almost on a whim.

She couldn't understand what drove her to follow him. It would be simple to knock him out again and bind him, however every time she thought about it she faltered. Those golden eyes returned to the front of her mind, and she shivered as she remembered the sheer honesty in them. There was no ulterior motive, and it confused her to see someone that wanted to care for her so badly.

Still, she kept an eye on him. The boy had a Jewel Seed inside of him, and she had promised Mother that she would bring them.

Eventually her chance came. After what seemed like an eternity the boy had wandered into a small clearing and fell. Whatever energy that had dragged his broken body around the city had finally run dry.

Making sure that no one was around, Fate landed near the boy and slowly walked towards him. The boy looked bad. His clothes were still torn from the battle and his face was flushed with fever. It was a pitiful sight, and it baffled Fate that this was the same boy that had created that hell with the Jewel Seed. That this was the same boy that had just beaten Arf and promised to save her.

She stared at the boy in front of her and shook her head. "Just who are you going to save?" The girl pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She gathered magical energy into Bardiche before raising it above the boy.

Lightning danced in the sky as Fate made her choice.

_A wasteland of iron and blood._

_No matter how far he looked, there was no sign of any life. The air was thick with the smell of iron and smog to the point where a normal person would find it difficult to breathe. However, the air didn't bother him at all; in fact, it was almost soothing in a way that escaped him completely. It felt like he belonged here, but he couldn't see how anything belonged in this desolate place._

_The boy followed the spiraling smog into the twilight sky and watched as it suddenly shifted to show a series of large gears rotating in the sky before shifting back again. The boy turned his sight from the shifting sky to ground. The sight of the barren land caused a hollow feeling in the boy. He knew instinctively that the land was not meant to be empty, that there was something that needed to be here. But he couldn't tell what belonged._

_So the boy wandered, hoping to find what was missing from the land, and in turn what was missing from himself._

_He spent an eternity wandering the endless land with the grinding gears in the sky as his only companion, and yet there was no fear of death; there was no despair at the chance of finding nothing. He had chosen this path. There would be no giving up, or losing his path._

_He passed by many things, but they were invisible to him. He could not see them yet._

_Eventually, his search bore fruit. He had only found two objects stuck into the ground, but he knew that they were what belonged here._

_Small hands wrapped around the leather hilts and a smile crawled over his face. In the lifeless ground of iron and blood, the boy found a single pair of swords. A small drop fell into the endless void within him._

_It was a start._

_…_

He woke up in an odd room. It looked like something you would see out of a movie that was set in the far future. It was a rather dark room, with fancy machines littering the room and odd screens on the walls.

BeepBeepBeep

"Ah…" The boy looked around at the room in confusion. It was an unfamiliar room and it appeared rather complicated. Various machines were set up, and he could see some screens on the walls that had...stuff that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

"You're awake." Shirou turned his head to the side to see a brown haired girl that looked older than him. She quickly wrote something down on a clipboard before flashing a friendly smile in his direction. "It looks like the operation was a success."

"Operation?" Shirou repeated in confusion. He couldn't remember being hurt.

"Yes. We were worried that there might have been some side effects, but so far we haven't detected any major anomalies." The girl continued happily. Shirou wasn't sure if she simply didn't notice his confusion or was ignoring it.

She quickly started asking Shirou some questions that varied from basic information like his name and age, before switching to asking if he felt any pain or odd sensations. Shirou answered all the questions to the best of his ability, and after what seemed like an eternity to the boy, the questions stopped.

"Alright, that should do it. I'm sure that your friends will be happy to see you up. If you would just give me a moment, I'll go get them."

Shirou watched as the cheerful girl left the room and took the silence to gather his thoughts. He was in some sort of medical suite, and the girl had mentioned an operation. Had he been hurt? Shirou looked over his body and saw no odd marks or scars from any injury or surgery, but he did discover a large manacle attached to his right arm.

"Huh?" Shirou examined the manacle curiously. It was rather simple in design. It was just a thick white manacle around his wrist, though Shirou found it odd that he couldn't find a hinge to the thing. Shirou wondered if there was a hidden hinge, or if they had cast it around his arm. Attached to the manacle was a small chain that ended in an odd rock. It was clear and shiny, almost like a gem. "What is this thing?"

Shirou gave the room a quick glance to make sure no one was here. Maybe a quick Structural Analysis would reveal what it was. He placed a hand over the manacle and spoke his aria. "Tra-"

"Shirou!"

Shirou flinched as his concentration was broken. It was less the shout and more the full body tackle that slammed into him that startled him. He choked as he was put into a strangle hold by a sobbing girl. "Ack! Nanoha… air!" The boy flailed around as she continued to choke him.

Nanoha thankfully got the hint and let go of him. However, his relief was short-lived as he was faced with the fiercest glare he had ever seen. "You idiot!"

"W-what?" Shirou flinched at the outburst and stared at her in confusion.

"I said you're an idiot!" Nanoha shouted at him. She even hit him once to make sure he got the message.

"Ow! What are you talking about?" Shirou rubbed his arm.

"I believe she is referring to your reckless actions and getting yourself kidnapped, Shirou-kun."

Shirou blinked and looked up at the soft voice. He noticed that Nanoha wasn't the only one to enter the room. A young woman with green hair and an odd jewel on her forehead was smiling at him. Next to her were two boys. A slightly older boy with deep blue hair wearing a black jacket that had various spikes on it was first. The other boy was a blonde his age that was looking at him oddly. It was a look of relief that seemed odd to see on a stranger.

"Reckless actions?" Shirou scratched his cheek and tried to recall if he had done anything really dangerous lately. To his surprise, he couldn't really recall anything. There was just a large blank spot that he couldn't really explain. "Did I get hurt? I don't really remember anything after fighting Arf."

"Did you get hurt? Did you get hurt?!" Shirou swallowed hard at the sight of Nanoha getting angry again. It was a rare sight to see her genuinely mad. It was also a sight that Shirou never liked to see. "You…"

Shirou flinched when Nanoha buried her head into his chest. He could feel her tears soaking through the thin material of his hospital gown. His arms wrapped around her, and inwardly he started to panic a little. He didn't want Nanoha to cry, but he had no idea what had happened. He looked up at the others for answers.

The blonde boy looked a little uncomfortable when Shirou's gaze fell on him, but he offered an explanation. Shirou listened intently as the boy told him what had happened after Shirou had run and grabbed the Jewel Seed. It had activated and warped reality. Nanoha and Fate had been able to seal it back up, but Fate had taken him with her after the Jewel Seed refused to come out of his body.

"So, it's still inside me. Can it activate again?" Shirou felt Nanoha squeeze him tighter at the question.

"You don't need to worry about that, Shirou-kun." Shirou turned his attention to the smiling woman - Lindy-san, he recalled briefly from the boy's explanation. "While we haven't been able to extract the Jewel Seed, we have been able to seal it. That bracelet right there should keep the Jewel Seed from activating again."

The odd white manacle on his right arm gleamed under the light. Shirou gave it an appreciative look. What the blonde boy had described hadn't sounded pleasant at all, and Shirou had no desire to go through it again. It was a miracle that it didn't affect the city.

"Alright, so they sealed the Jewel Seed but it wouldn't come out, so Fate kidnapped me. How did I get over here?" Shirou couldn't really remember anything after grabbing the Jewel Seed. He could remember some flashes, but they didn't really make any sense.

"We were hoping that you could shed some light on that." The spiky jacket boy was frowning at Shirou.

Seeing Shirou's confused look, Nanoha filled him in. "It was a couple days after you got kidnapped. There was this surge of magical energy in the middle of the night. We went to investigate, and we just found you lying on the ground in the middle of a park. We thought you escaped and collapsed there."

Shirou listened to Nanoha's words and tried to recall anything about a part. Almost as if a dam had broken, a flood of images crashed into Shirou's vision.

A blurred picture frame–

An empty apartment–

Beef stew–

Fate and Arf–

Pain–

A pair of swords–

The images blurred together along with various flashes of the city into a chaotic slideshow. Shirou felt his hold on reality slip for a moment before the wave subsided.

"-irou! Shirou!"

Lightning–

Promising… something….

Shirou gasped for breath and thrashed under the grip of Nanoha and the blonde boy as fire seemed to lance through his brain. The images all faded into one picture before disappearing.

"Not...-el Seed, some so-… -lock."

Shirou could hear yelling all around him. There was the whine of alarms on the machines activating, drowning out their exact words. He felt a wave of something pass over him and he shuddered at the invasion.

"I'm okay, I'm okay." Shirou wasn't sure if the words were reassuring himself or those around him.

"You're not okay!" Nanoha yelled at him. It was a familiar sound considering all the times the girl had yelled at him for doing something dangerous. "You're hurt and you need to rest!"

Shirou shook his head. "No, I'm okay. I was just… not ready for the memories that came back." He finished lamely.

Nanoha lost what little anger she had stored at the sheepish look on Shirou's face. It was a familiar argument that she knew she was going to lose.

"Were the memories that bad?" The blonde boy spoke up. There was that strange look of guilt on his face again. Shirou wondered why that expression kept coming up.

Shirou blinked in surprise at the question but shook his head. "Not really, they were mostly confusing. My head just felt like it was on fire when I tried to recall anything. The memories were pretty normal."

The only odd memory was the last one. The memories had all faded into one last image that seared itself into Shirou's memory.

A wasteland covered in smog and twilight, with a pair of swords stuck into the ground.

"Then do you remember what happened to you?" Chrono asked him. Shirou shook off the imagery and tried to piece together the odd flashes he had gained. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to make any sense.

"I'm not really sure. I remember some sort of apartment and I'm pretty sure Fate and Arf were there." Shirou left out the part where he cleaned the apartment and cooked dinner for them. They really didn't need to know about that and judging by the way that the blue haired boy was glaring at him, they wouldn't appreciate a speech on cooking. "I'm not sure if I remember it right, but I think I fought them off and escaped."

That was the only explanation for the swords and the pain that he could think of. The odd glimpses of the city could be when he was running away, but it started to blur pretty badly right before the pain and the swords, so he couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

"Then you remember where they have been hiding?" The boy pressed further.

Shirou shook his head. "Not a clue. I can barely remember anything after I left the building. It's all just a big blur."

Chrono looked pretty frustrated by the lack of information, but before he could question Shirou any further, Lindy laid a hand on his shoulder. "I think that's enough. We should let Shirou-san here rest."

Chrono looked annoyed for a moment before he schooled his expression. He nodded briskly to her before walking out. Lindy smiled at Shirou and wished him well before following after the boy. This left Shirou alone with Nanoha, and oddly enough the blonde boy. Shirou wondered if he still had some questions.

"So you found me in the park?" Shirou decided that finding out the full story behind his disappearance and reappearance was a bit more important.

Nanoha nodded, "There was this large surge of magical energy in the middle of the night. Yuuno-kun and I went out to investigate. But by the time we got there, the source of the magic was gone. We searched around a little and eventually we found you lying in the middle of the park."

Shirou frowned at the explanation and wondered what was missing. What kind of magical energy was it? Why did it disappear? Finally, he also wondered why Nanoha had given the blonde boy a nod when she mentioned Yuuno.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask." Shirou looked around the room and shot Nanoha a confused look. "Where is Yuuno anyways?"

Shirou's confusion only grew after asking that question. Nanoha started giggling and the boy next to him slumped down into his seat like someone had hit him.

"Did I ask something weird?" Shirou tilted his head.

"S-Shirou… this." Nanoha managed to point at the blonde boy while giggling. "This _is_ Yuuno-kun."

"Eh?" Shirou's mind had stalled for a moment as he tried to process that. He pointed at the boy with a confused expression. "B-but… Yuuno is a ferret!"

"I took that form to save energy. This is my natural form." Yuuno had a resigned look on his face. He was completely expecting this reaction, but it didn't make it any less awkward.

"A-ah… that makes sense I guess. I mean, Arf was able to transform, so why can't you do the same."

Shirou tried to rationalize the fact that the ferret that he had spent so much time talking to was a human boy. He wondered briefly why this was so weird when he lived in a world where magic was real. Still, it was rather jarring.

"It isn't exactly a common skill to learn." Yuuno admitted with a weak smile. "But it does make it easier for me to recovery from magical depletion."

Shirou nodded and wondered if it was possible to learn a skill like that through Magecraft. He doubted that he could pull it off, but it would be interesting to see if it was possible. There was still so much about Magic that he didn't know. Maybe he could ask Kiritsugu to tell him about some different types of Magecraft the next time he saw him.

"Okay, that answers that, but what happened after you found me in the park and how did we get here?" Shirou looked around the room and marveled at all the technology in the room. Most Magi didn't use technology all that much. Kiritsugu didn't really have a problem with it, but he tended to be out of the house more often than not to care about the latest gadgets. Shirou had kept himself up to date only to be able to fix broken appliances. "I mean, this doesn't look like a hospital."

Yuuno nodded and explained, "This is the infirmary of the Arthra, a TSAB ship."

"TSAB?" Shirou looked confused for a moment before he recalled that Yuuno mentioning he was from another world. "Wait, you mean we're on a spaceship?"

Yuuno nodded and Shirou felt his world tilt for a moment. He accepted that magic was real, but the idea of space travel was mind-boggling. "It's more of a dimensional ship, but it can be utilized for space travel."

"The Time Space Adminstrative Bureau." Nanoha explained as Shirou tried to accept the fact that he was on a spaceship. "They came to investigate the Jewel Seeds. They asked us to help out with the search for the Jewel Seeds and we got them to help you out in return."

"Right. That makes sense I guess." The Jewel Seeds were dangerous, so it made sense that people were looking for them. As he was mulling over what he had just learned, a sudden thought shot though Shirou's mind. "Wait, you guys said I was kidnapped. How long have I been gone?"

Nanoha tilted her head and Shirou could see her counting the days. "Only a few days. You were gone for a full day before we found you, but we couldn't wake you up."

Nanoha's face fell for a few moments before she shook it off. "We took you back to your house and…"

Shirou blinked as Nanoha trailed off. The girl's head was tilted down so that her eyes were hidden by her hair. He turned to Yuuno for an explanation but the pale expression on the boy's face only caused more questions to appear. Shirou began to fear the worst. Did something happen- they mentioned his house- did something happen to Kiritsugu? "What happened?"

"Shirou…" The boy leaned forward at Nanoha's whisper. Morbid thoughts were coursing through his mind. He wasn't prepared to be tackled for a second time. Nanoha was squeezing him pretty tightly as she wailed. "Your dad is scary!"

Had he been able to move, Shirou would have pressed his palm to his face. As it was, he faltered for a moment before turning to Yuuno with a look that said, 'What the hell happened?"

"Your father wasn't too happy that you got kidnapped." Yuuno laughed nervously. "And well, he interrogated us for information."

_It was such a sudden change. The man had seemed tired and sickly when Yuuno first saw him. He had this tired smile on his face when he saw Nanoha, like he expected something like this to happen. _

_He took the unconscious Shirou pretty well too, though he had an odd expression when he saw the boy's face contorted in pain._

_The change happened when Nanoha explained about the Jewel Seeds and how Shirou wouldn't wake up. The exhaustion seemed to fade away, only to be replaced with a cold emotionless expression that made Yuuno shiver when he recalled it. The man pressed them both for information with a cold professionalism that seemed to clash with the kind man that had greeted them at the door._

_When they were finished, Kiristugu just sat there for a few moments, contemplating. Yuuno could tell that the man was calculating what had happened and what options he could follow. Whatever kind of job that this man had, Yuuno could tell that it was one that this man excelled at. Then the professionalism was gone. The man sighed deeply and ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "I was afraid that something like this would happen."_

_"Eh?" Nanoha looked up at Shirou's father with worried eyes. The man's expression from before had scared her a little, but seeing that sad smile on his face was a little reassuring._

_Kiritsugu shook his head and looked towards Shirou's room. He spoke softly. "Shirou told me a little of what was going on. I had hoped that he was exaggerating a bit, but it seems that he really has stepped into something dangerous."_

_Yuuno felt a stab of guilt. He was the one that had caused the Jewel Seeds to be released, and he was the one that had allowed Nanoha and Shirou to help him. Nanoha looked down for a moment and wondered if she should have stopped Shirou from helping her when a hand ruffled her hair. She looked up to see Kiritsugu smiling down at her._

_"Don't worry. Shirou will bounce back." Kiristugu had no trace of doubt in his voice. "That boy is too stubborn to let something like this keep him down."_

"Dad was like that?" Shirou was surprised. It was difficult to try to match the picture that they painted with the goofy father that he lived with. He couldn't see it. Though he was surprised that Kiritsugu had doubted him. Was his story about the Jewel Seeds that hard to believe? "Wait, where is my dad anyways?"

Nanoha giggled and pointed to a corner of the room. Shirou followed it and looked over to see his father sleeping in a chair. Kiritsugu complete in his wrinkled coat that he wore when he traveled was slumped in a chair in the corner of the room. Shirou stared for a moment and wondered how his father had slept through that entire commotion.

"Geez, old man…" Shirou groaned at his father. "You need to take better care of yourself."

The next few days passed by in a blur of activity for Shirou. He was thrust from meetings about the Jewel Seeds, to appointments with the ship doctors and some engineers to check on Shirou's health, hanging out with Nanoha and Yuuno, and helping out around the ship anywhere he could. He barely had time to himself.

Kiritsugu was so busy that Shirou barely saw him at all during the day. He was in meetings with Lindy almost all day.

Luckily, they both had time during the evening when everything was done to meet and spent time together.

Even with all the activity, Shirou was starting to become stir crazy on the dimensional ship. No matter what argument that he used saying he was fine, Lindy would not let Shirou go hunt the remaining Jewel Seeds with Nanoha and Yuuno. She had cited his injuries, the incompleteness of the Sealing Device attached to his arm, and the power mismatch between him and any Mid-Childa mage.

The list was meant to get Shirou to stop trying to go out into the field, but Shirou saw it as a list to complete so he could help Nanoha and Yuuno.

He had managed to get an all-clear from the ship doctor, and after a rather rash experiment had proven that the manacle on his arm kept the Jewel Seed in his body contained and isolated from any other Jewel Seeds, an all-clear from the Device manager as well. With those obstacles cleared, Shirou was prepared to clear the final restriction barring him from helping Nanoha and Yuuno.

"I really don't see the point of this." Chrono stood across from Shirou in the training room looking as collected as ever.

Shirou was trying to suppress the excess energy he had accumulated over the last few days and couldn't help but fidget a bit. "Lindy-san says that I can't match a Mid-Childan mage, and I want to prove her wrong."

When Shirou had asked about how he could get Lindy to stop worrying about his ability to take care of himself in a fight, one of the soldiers had jokingly suggested that Shirou challenge the strongest mage on the ship and beat him. It turns out that Chrono was the strongest mage on the ship, and Shirou had opted for challenging him to a spar right away. The serious older boy had blown him off at every turn, but Shirou wouldn't take no for an answer and continued to accost him. Eventually, Chrono had relented and accepted his challenge reluctantly.

Shirou was almost positive that the boy accepted not only to shut him up, but to get him back for constantly annoying him with his 'harassment'. Once word got out, most of the ship that had heard about the spar came to watch.

"It's also a good way to see some of the native magic in action." One of the more curious soldiers chimed in. Kiritsugu had been in charge of giving a summary of Earth Magic to the TSAB, but his condition prevented him from giving a demonstration. Yuuno had been able to fill in some blanks from his own observations of Shirou, but they still wanted a practical demonstration. "Now less talking and more fighting!"

At that signal, Chrono raised his staff and Shirou held his hands out to grasp empty air.

"Ready?" Yuuno had been appointed the match referee. They wanted a neutral party, and the blonde boy had seemed the best choice.

The processes for Shirou's Projections had changed. The first time he had attempted to Project swords again, he had failed pretty badly. The Projection had been empty and useless. It was nothing like the swords he had been dreaming about, nothing like the swords he remembered. The process for recreating those swords was slightly different than he was used to. With some help from Kiritsugu he had slowly worked out the correct method.

The seven steps were:

Judge the concept of creation, hypothesize the basic structure, duplicate the composition material, imitate the skill of its making, sympathize with the experience of its growth, reproduce the accumulated years, and excel every manufacturing process.

Shirou followed every step and pulled the hammer back in his head.

"Go!"

The twin blades appeared in Shirou's hands and he was gone the next moment. The magus apprentice shot forward underneath Chrono's guard and swung up with both blades.

"Flash Move."

Only to hit empty air as the mage disappeared in a blur of movement.

Shirou realized that something was different about his Projection. They were more than just swords. Shirou's sword Projections seemed to have a sentience to them. Shirou felt the blades pull him, twisting his body around to block the staff strike coming at him from behind. Shirou's counter strike cut through the air only to be caught by an armored gauntlet.

The two boys stayed there for a moment locked in a battle of strength before Chrono made a move.

The glimmer of purple in the corner of his eye was all the warning Shirou got. The sword that was stuck in Chrono's grip was abandoned and Shirou broke away for room to dodge. Chrono tossed the abandoned sword away and finished his spell. An array of small purple energy orbs were fired at the retreating swordsman.

Shirou tracked every blast as they came towards him, trying to deflect them with his weapon. The loss of his second sword meant that there were too many shots to handle. Half of the array were dodged or deflected, but the other half slammed into him and sent him careening into one of the training room walls. The impact kicked up a cloud of dust.

Chrono watched the smoke cloud wearily. That should have been enough to take out a non-shielded civilian, but from what the ferret had reported, Emiya Shirou had a ridiculously high tolerance for pain.

A silver bullet shot out of the cloud and forced Chrono to raise a shield. A red blur followed the projectile and Shirou lunged at his opponent with another pair of swords in his hands. Shirou had aimed the thrown sword high at Chrono's head to force him to block high. He dashed under the shield and stabbed.

Chrono was able to throw up a barrier at the last minute to prevent him from being skewered by Shirou, but it wasn't able to negate the force of the blow. He regained his balance after being stabbed and sent skidding backwards and carefully analyzing what had just happened.

A quick glance of the training room showed that the blade he had caught and tossed away, along with the sword that had shattered against his shield and the two weapons currently in Shirou's hands.

"Gradation Air." Chrono recalled the debriefings Kiritsugu gave on earth magic. It was shaping magic into a physical form. It should be a crude and inefficient method that should only create a fragile model of an object. Shirou seemed to be an exception to that rule.

But where had the speed and power come from?

The ferret had given them a brief summary of the earthling's abilities. He was much stronger than a normal nine year old should be, but he had not been anywhere near the super human speed he had just displayed.

He made a mental note to have the ship physician check the boy out. The Jewel Seed may have made changes to the boy's body that they had assumed to be normal for an earth mage.

While Chrono was analyzing the battle so far, Shirou was beating himself up for messing up such a good opportunity. He had been saving that sword throwing trick as an ace in the hole, and now he wasted his chance. He should have pressed his advantage while he still had Chrono off balance. Still, he had been able to keep up with Chrono. Shirou had been unsure of how he had done so, but he had kept up with the mage's superior speed and strength thanks to the swords in his hands. They were pulling him through this fight… literally.

Shirou wasn't going to bet that he could win if the fight if it went due to stamina. The boy's body was already screaming in pain from the short battle, and the Magic Circuit he could use felt like it was about to break. If he was going to make his move, it was going to have to be now.

Another pair of swords was Projected above Shirou's head, the two swords in his hands were thrown at Chrono's head. Shirou caught the newly Projected weapons and shot after his thrown weapons.

"Flash Move."

Instead of blocking the weapons like Shirou wanted, Chrono had disappeared in a blur of movement once more. But Shirou didn't miss a beat. He was able to roughly track the blur of motion and launched himself at Chrono's new location. The spell on the older boy's lips died as he was forced on the defensive. A flurry of slashes and stabs were expertly blocked by the mage's staff and gauntlets or dodged as he flew circles around Shirou with constant Flash Moves. No matter how fast Shirou swung, he could not land a solid hit.

Unfortunately for Shirou, Chrono was a very efficient mage, and while defending himself from the whirlwind of swords he simultaneously called up a barrier spell.

The wall of purple magic slammed down between the two fighters and halted Shirou's assault.

"Bind." Chrono didn't give Shirou a moment to escape and quickly fired off a weak binding spell. The magic wrapped itself around Shirou's wrists and stopped him in his tracks. A moment later he was wrapped in magical chains, immobilizing him completely.

"That should do it." Chrono double-checked the binding spells before turning towards the spectator room. "The match is over."

"Not yet!" Chrono turned at Shriou's stubborn outburst.

"You've been incapacitated. Unless you can break those binds, then this match is over." Chrono's reply was clear and professional, but there was a hint of annoyance underneath it.

Shriou tried to shrug, but the binding spells made it look like he just shifted his entire body. "I don't need to break them to keep fighting."

Chrono's arm snapped up just in time to intercept the sword aimed at his chest. The blade carved a deep scar in the gauntlet he was wearing. A second and third sword had already formed over Shirou's head and launched themselves at Chrono, but both shattered against the shield he raised.

The strain at Projecting like this was starting to get to Shirou. His mind felt like it was filled with cotton and his body like it had gotten shoved into a microwave. Projection was not a cost-efficient Magecraft, and Projecting weapons like he did was much harder than just Projecting a simple object. Adding the strain of the high-speed movement he had been using, and Shirou was quite frankly exhausted. Yet, he couldn't give up. There was too much at stake. With Chrono distracted by the swords thrown at him, the bonds around Shirou's wrists faded. That just left the chains around his body.

"Gu…ahhh!"

Fire erupted through his body, and both of his arms felt like they were dipped into molten lava. But Shirou pushed through it. Pain had always been a constant for Shirou when using Magecraft. A final pair of swords were forged into Shirou's hands and sliced through the chains around him.

Shirou's mind was numb. He had surpassed pain and worry. The entire room had fallen away from Shirou's mind and all he could see was Chrono as he rushed him.

"Blaze Cannon."

Shirou's sight of the other mage was overtaken by a purple light and Shirou felt the magical flames sear over his body. The bombardment spell hurled his body across the room until he was stopped by the wall.

Yuuno winced at the impact and shook his head at the dazed Shirou slumped against the wall. "That's match point."

"Not exactly a one-sided match."

Lindy's eye twitched at the rather innocent-sounding phrase from Kiritsugu. Nanoha had run into the room to check on Shirou, leaving her alone with Kiritsugu in the private observation room.

"No, it wasn't." Chrono had maintained control of the match, but she had not expected Shirou to even touch her son, let alone push him, if only for a few moments. But the information she had been using to gauge his strength was outdated, seriously outdated. "You knew about his new abilities?"

Kiritsugu nodded. "I did. Shirou isn't the best secret keeper."

"And you didn't think that we might need to know about these new abilities." She hadn't meant it to sound like an accusation, but it still came out like one. However, Kiritsugu just shrugged the outburst off.

"The engineer assured me that Shirou's magic would be unaffected by the Jewel Seed and vice versa, so I didn't think it would be a problem." That and he was still trying to figure out how Shirou was doing any of it.

He had seen some odd things in his rather broad experience, but nothing that came close to Shirou's spontaneous ability to Project weapons. The speed and strength were a surprise. They hadn't been able to test that out in their quarters, but Shirou had mentioned that he felt odd holding them. Kiritsugu had several theories about the ability, but none of them made sense. He was half tempted to blame the entire ability on the Jewel Seed embedded in Shirou's body. "The sword launching was a nice touch. We discussed the possibility, but I didn't think he could actually do it."

Lindy wanted to yell at the man. She really did. However, she let the moment pass and watched Shirou struggle to his feet with Yuuno helping him up. The little magus grinned at her son and she watched the two of them exchange words. Chrono's face briefly twisted to annoyance as he retorted to whatever Shirou had said.

Nanoha turned to scold him, and she could see Yuuno sigh at his friends' antics. She could understand the bond between Nanoha and Shirou. They were childhood friends, but she was surprised to see Yuuno included into the group so easily. Hadn't they just met a few weeks ago? Did they become that close, already?

"He's not going to take no for an answer, is he?" It was more of a rhetorical question, but Kiritsugu answered it anyways.

"No, he's not. If someone needs help, he'll go through hell and back to help them out. It's just who he is." The last part was said almost bitterly. There wasn't a moment that went by that Kiritsugu didn't regret sending the boy down the path he did. "It doesn't help that Nanoha is his best friend."

"Then I guess I can't forbid him from helping them, can I?" Lindy sighed and walked out of the observation room to give Shirou her permission. Kiritsugu gave one last long look at one of the swords still in the arena before following her.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Merry Chrismas. A Christmas day update is my present to anyone reading this.<em>

_We start to see how Shirou's magic is affected by the Jewel Seed, and a new branch of players enter the hunt for the Lost Logia, The Time Space Administration Bureau._

_I'm busy with holiday stuff, so I leave you here with the words I end all my chapters with._

_Tell me what you think._


	6. Chapter 6: Falling Down

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Six: **

**Falling Down**

* * *

><p><em>He was slowly losing everything.<em>

_His body hadn't burned away yet, but everything else had._

_He no longer had any regret. They burned away._

_He no longer had any anger. They burned away._

_He no longer had any hope. They burned away._

_He had lost everything in that fire. It had all been burned away. _

_When you take everything from a child, his parents, his home, and everything that had made him, it could only be called death. _

_All that was left was his body and the fire was slowly creeping to consume that as well._

…

"Ugh, this is starting to get old." That had been the sixth night in a row that he had that dream. It wasn't like the dream was uncommon, but it never seemed to repeat itself like this. The rest of his week hadn't been going well either.

Shirou had often wondered what it would be like to be a Hero. He understood that it wouldn't be easy and the pictures that his father painted were usually filled with blood, death, and tragedy. Kiritsugu however had left out the part where you had to be used as bait for creatures created by the whims of a magical rock.

You see, he had been cleared to help Nanoha and Yuuno to hunt for Jewel Seeds. Apparently his fight with Chrono (despite his complete loss to the older boy in his own opinion) had shown enough battle ability to be let out in the field, though he was under strict orders to act only in a supporting role.

If a fight between Fate and Nanoha broke out, he would either distract Arf, or support Yuuno in the fight. With that in mind, Shirou joined the Jewel Seed hunt once more. Unfortunately, they had found a new problem almost immediately.

Shirou had activated a Jewel Seed himself, and for reasons unknown it was stuck inside his body. The various engineers and mages that had rigged the Sealing Device onto him were under the impression that it was in a dormant state, but just to be safe they wanted the Sealing Device on him at all times. This kept it from activating or messing with Shirou's own magic. However, it didn't seem to stop another side effect from occurring.

The almost uncanny ability to attract the remaining unsealed Jewel Seeds.

Before, Shirou was basically a nuisance to most of the monsters that the Jewel Seed created. He would gain their attention and keep them from attacking Nanoha. However, the moment he had deployed to his first hunt after his recovery something odd happened.

The Jewel Seed host, a bird this time, had immediately gone after Shirou. It clawed and peaked at him, persisting even when threatened with several sharp objects, as it tried to eat Shirou. It completely ignored Nanoha and Yuuno even when they blasted and chained it up respectively.

The bird seemed blind to anything other than Shirou. Yuuno had guessed that the Jewel Seeds were resonating and attempting to bond or something. Shirou wasn't really listening to him as he was using his newfound speed to frantically dodge the giant demonic bird's beak. It took both Shirou grounding it by piercing its wings with his swords and Yuuno's binding spells to keep the bird still enough for Nanoha to seal it.

A small test from one of the Jewel Seeds that they had showed it slowly gravitating towards Shirou even in its sealed state.

Shirou was now perfect bait for the Jewel Seeds.

So when the Arthra detected Jewel Seed activation in the middle of a lake and Chrono eyed Shirou with a speculative look and said he had an idea, Shirou knew that it wasn't going to be an idea that he liked.

…

"I really don't like this idea." Shirou groaned. He was currently sitting in a small rowboat in the middle of a lake.

The lake was surrounded by a beautiful forest and the entire scene looked almost untouched by humankind if you ignored the small wooden dock that Shirou had borrowed the boat from. He normally would have been a bit more appreciative of the view if it weren't for his current situation.

_'I know, but we need to lure the Jewel Seed out.'_ Yuuno's voice echoed in Shirou's head. His voice was supposed to sound reassuring, but Shirou didn't feel assured at all. _'This shouldn't be that much different from the last Jewel Seed, right?'_

"The last Jewel Seed I could run away from. I'm a sitting duck here!" Shirou yelled back. He knew that he could move fast thanks to his swords, but he didn't think he could run on water.

Both Yuuno and Nanoha were in the air in prime position to seal the Jewel Seed creature as soon as it appeared. But even though he knew they were there, Shirou couldn't help but feel a little bit alone in this situation.

_'I'll seal the Jewel Seed before it can even touch you Shirou, so don't worry.'_Nanoha was as determined as ever. The girl's protective streak over Shirou had been at an all time high lately. The boy's activation of the Jewel Seed, which neither Yuuno nor Nanoha would talk about, his kidnapping, and the Jewel Seed's attempt to see him eaten had pushed her into a protective mood. Shirou was starting to feel smothered by her.

Not that he would ever say that to her. It would only make her even more determined to protect him.

"I still think this is…" Shirou trailed off as a large shadow had blocked the sun. Shirou felt water rain down around him and he cursed the magical rock in his body another time. He turned around and finished his statement as he saw the creature that the Jewel Seed was using this time. "A bad idea."

Shirou stared at the host of the Jewel Seed. It hadn't just anchored itself to the water or an ideal like the one at the pool did, but an actual animal. It seemed to possess some sort of fish, but the changes the Jewel Seed had made it resemble a shark more than a fish. The fish was covered in steel like scales that looked like jagged armor and Shirou was pretty sure that a fish wasn't supposed to have that many teeth if they had teeth at all.

Shirou twitched and Projected a sword. He pointed it at the Fish and silently dared it to try and eat him. The fish took that dare and lunged down to eat the boy that seemed to resonate with it. It was at this moment that the Magical Circle that was sitting below Shirou lit up and activated. The green sigil lit up and transported Shirou safely to the shore as the Jewel Seed creature smashed its face into the empty boat. The tiny boat splintered inside the creature's mouth. It roared in anger at the disappearance of its other piece, but almost as soon as it begun, its roar was cut short.

A second magical circle appeared in the air next to the fish and spat out several magical chains that wrapped around the fish to prevent it from getting away.

"Nanoha, now!"

"Jewel Seed, Serial IX, Sealing!" Several pink ribbons rained down from the sky and pierced the struggling fish. The beast writhed for a moment as it tried to fight off the sealing spell before its form dissolved as the source of its transformation was ripped out.

Shirou watched as a small fish fell into the water and Nanoha flew down to retrieve the Jewel Seed. He wanted to sigh. This was not how he imagined how he would help Nanoha search for the Jewel Seeds.

…

Shirou hoped that the next Jewel Seed mission would be better. Nanoha and Yuuno had sealed one Jewel Seed while Shirou was still asleep giving them another three, but Fate and Arf had managed to beat them to two Jewel Seeds. Shirou wasn't really sure how he would react to meeting them again, but by the time they had arrived at the site the Jewel Seed was gone and they were already out of range so he didn't have to face the two of them again just yet.

It was probably for the best. He didn't really recall much of the kidnapping but what he did recall confused him a lot.

Shirou's mind wandered back to Fate and he sighed as the memory of his promise came back to him. Fate was not fine, there was something hurting her and he had promised to save her. He didn't really understand what he was supposed to save her from, but he had promised.

Shirou shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was important, but he had things to do at the moment. "Focus."

They were in a lull at the moment. They couldn't detect anymore Jewel Seeds, so they were either all dormant or they were hidden from view. Either way, there would be sometime until the next mission and Shirou was taking advantage of it. He was going to work on his magic again.

Ever since he had woken up in the hospital he had been able to use a new magic. It was a bit like his old Projection magic, but there was a lot different about it. The first thing was that it was very selective in what he could Project. So far the only thing he could create were the swords he had seen in the Takamachi Dojo. They had tried some other things, but nothing else seemed to work. So for now, he could only assume that he could only Project those swords so he needed to work on perfecting his Projection of those swords.

There were seven steps that he needed to follow, but he had difficulty working out how each stepped worked. There was a rough guideline in his head, but it didn't allow for a perfect Projection. There were still small bits and pieces missing. Kiritsugu had helped him out a little in the beginning, but he had told him that whatever Shirou was doing, wasn't really Magecraft. It was something completely new.

Shirou had been excited about that, until he learned that Kiritsugu couldn't help him learn how to use his new magic at all. He had given him some tips, but other than that the man had mostly left Shirou to his own devices. Kiritsugu had spent most of his time talking with Lindy and the crew during his stay, but after a few days he had left the ship for a short trip. He said something about business and left the ship.

Shirou sighed, it seemed like an odd time for a trip, but Kiritsugu had left on less before.

Shirou shook off those thoughts and focused on his training. He was standing alone in the training room with a small target set up. The target had a small barrier projector rigged to it that would simulate a Barrier Jacket. Shirou knew that he had no real way of getting past an actual barrier or shield spell, but if he could get past the Barrier Jacket he could do something.

"Trace on."

The image of the two short swords was seared into his mind. There was no possible way for Shirou to forget how they looked, what they were made of, what they had been through. It was a simple matter to call up the blue print when it constantly seemed to invade his thoughts.

"Projection start."

A small flash of light summoned both weapons. However, they hung in the air above him, not quite finished. Sweat started to form on Shirou's brow as he maintained the weapons and loaded another set of swords.

"A bit more…"

A second Projection had created both weapons in Shirou's hands, but his focus was split into too many pieces. Shirou looked down at the two weapons in his hands and grimaced a little at the sight. The blade was bent slightly on one blade and both handles were off. The mistakes were miniscule but it meant his mental image had been flawed and the blade would suffer from that.

Shirou scowled slightly at the bad Projection but continued onward. A switch was flipped in his head and both swords above him launched themselves into the target. The swords slammed into the target and Shirou took that as his signal. He rushed forward and slashed across the target with one weapon before twisting around to attack with the second. He felt both weapons bite into the target for a moment before shattering. The basic structure of both weapons had been flawed so neither weapon could hold up to a solid target.

Shirou hopped backwards to distance himself from the target and looked at his results. They weren't promising. The two swords he had launched at the target were on the floor. They had impacted the weapon and managed to penetrate the barrier set up around it but couldn't get deep enough to support their own weight. They left small scars where they impacted, but nothing significant. The two spots he had cut with the flawed swords were clean of any marks. His attacks had not gotten through the barrier at all.

"Not enough." Another pair of swords appeared into Shirou's hands. He replayed the short sparring match with Chrono in his head and the commentary that Kiritsugu gave him later that night. He had been able to get a few good hits in thanks to speed, but mostly because he had surprised Chrono. He had underestimated Shirou and that was why Shirou had been able to land any hits at all.

So he needed to get stronger. His strikes were mostly blunted by a Mage's Barrier Jacket and if he wanted to hurt them he needed strength. He needed to be able to Project faster, more reliably. If he used a faulty sword it would break and leave him unarmed and without the aid of his enhanced speed and strength. He needed to take advantage of any strong points he had and mask any weak points…

Shirou tilted his head as he tried to recall the rest of Kiritsugu's advice.

"I forgot." He sighed and let his head fall. Still, he didn't let it distract him for too long. He had to finish practicing and then meet up with Nanoha and Yuuno for dinner.

Shirou stared at the target again and focused. He emptied his mind of everything except for those two swords. He would perfect this, even if he needed to push to the edge of death.

"Trace on."

He still had a long way to go.

…

Shirou had to admit the food in the Arthra's cafeteria was really odd. It probably had to do with the ship being a military ship, but Shirou really missed his kitchen and a warm home cooked meal. Still, the food wasn't bad per say, just odd. He picked up a circular meat thing and gave it a speculative gaze before moving to take a bite.

"I'm sorry."

Shirou paused at that comment. The odd chicken finger like food was set down as he stared at Yuuno who was sitting next to him. "Eh?"

His surprise was mirrored by Nanoha and they both gave the blonde boy a confused look.

Yuuno looked down with a dour expression. "I didn't really mean to get the both of you involved in something like this. This is pulling the both of you from your everyday lives."

Nanoha took a bite of her food and smiled. "It's no problem at all. I get to spend time with Yuuno-kun and Shirou after all."

"Eh, but we're all so busy. Isn't it a bit lonely?" Shirou winced at that comment but he had to agree. Yuuno was always busy with the search for the Jewel Seeds and Shirou had been spending an increasing amount of time honing his own magic. They had spent as much time together as possible, but it wasn't a lot of time.

"I'm kind of used to being alone." Nanoha shook her head and offered a sad smile. Shirou recognized where this was going and looked away while Yuuno leaned forward to hear better.

"When I was little, Dad hurt himself on a job, and for a while he couldn't leave his hospital bed. It was just after we had opened our coffee shop and it wasn't as popular as it is now. So my mother and brother were really busy running it. And Sis was always at the hospital to watch and nurse over Dad. So for a little while, I was home by myself."

A haggard mother doing her best to run a new coffee shop, her son running around aiding her to the best of his abilities, a father covered in bandages immobile in the hospital, a girl half asleep watching him dutifully, and finally, a tiny girl sitting alone in an empty house waiting for her family to come home hours later.

It was a sad scene that Shirou sometimes had a hard time imagining considering how lively the Takamachi family were now, but it had happened.

"So I'm not that bothered by being alone."

"I see…" Yuuno took a moment to absorb that information before turning to Shirou. "And you?"

Shirou smiled back at Yuuno. He shouldn't have to worry about him being alone, but he could tell that this was bothering Yuuno pretty badly.

"Kiritsugu is always going on trips. I wasn't always able to stay at the Takamachi's, so I can take care of myself." Shirou didn't really enjoy the fact that Kiritsugu was always gone, but it was something he had accepted immediately. Kiritsugu had already given him so much, to ask for more of his time would be selfish. So he did his best to be independent despite the fact that the Takamachi family had opened their doors to him.

"Shirou, is Kiritsugu a single parent?" Yuuno knew it was a bit rude to ask, but he was curious. He had never seen any sign of Shirou's mother. It was odd considering how much the boy talked about his father.

"Huh? Oh yeah. I think he mentioned once that he married once but he never really talked about his wife before." Shirou tried to recall if the man had mentioned anything about the mysterious woman. "She must have left before he adopted me."

"So Kiritsugu adopted you?" Yuuno was a little surprised by that fact.

"Kiritsugu adopted Shirou before moving here." Nanoha explained. Shirou nodded and smiled as he recalled the first day that he had spent as Kiritsugu's son.

"So you lived somewhere else first Shirou?"

"Yep. We lived in Fuyuki City before we moved here. Though I don't really remember much before Kiritsugu adopted me."

That had caused Yuuno to pause. "What do you mean?"

Shirou just shrugged. "Well I was in an accident in Fuyuki. There was a big fire that ate up the park. It was Kiritsugu that had pulled me out and he adopted me later too."

"A…a fire?" Nanoha barely managed to choke out. "You were in a fire?"

Shirou missed the look in Nanoha's eyes and the understanding in Yuuno's eyes. "Yeah. I think my parents were caught in the fire too, but I don't really know. I don't remember anything before Kiritsugu pulled me out. The doctors said that was normal after something like that."

Because Shirou was lost in thought he missed the glances that were traded between Nanoha and Yuuno. Neither one could understand how Shirou could talk about this so easily but neither one wanted to continue this line of thought any longer.

"What about you, Yuuno-kun?" Nanoha turned the question back to its owner and hoped that Shirou didn't notice that she was changing the subject. "Now that I think about it, I don't really know a lot about your life."

Shirou stopped eating again and rolled that thought around his mind. It was true. Yuuno had lived in the Takamachi house and Shirou had talked a lot about Kiritsugu, but he couldn't really recall Yuuno talking about his own home life. It had never really come up. Shirou winced at that thought and berated himself over being so selfish. He had mainly kept the topics about magic and hadn't really made a lot of effort to talk about Yuuno's home life even though he was a stranger on a new planet.

"Well, I've always been alone from the start."

"Huh, really?" It was a comment that neither Nanoha nor Shirou expected.

"I didn't have any parents, so I was raised by everyone else in the tribe. That's why I consider everyone in the Scrya clan to be my family."

"I see…" Nanoha looked down with a sad smile on her face.

It was an emotion that seemed to envelop the room. Shirou looked away so that he didn't meet anyone's eyes and he had a feeling that Yuuno was doing the same.

"When this mess with the Jewel Seeds is over, let's all hang out like this again." Shirou and Yuuno looked over at Nanoha. She was smiling brightly at the both of them. "Alright?"

"Yeah." Yuuno seemed to cheer up a bit from that.

Shirou scratched his cheek lightly but couldn't hide his own smile.

The moment of peace and happiness was shattered as the ship alarm blared out. The loud noise caught all three of them in surprise and they turned their attention to the intercom above them.

"Emergency! A large magical reaction has been detected within the search parameters."

…

Shirou was dashing towards the main hangar as fast as he could go. He could hear Nanoha trailing behind him. The door the hangar whooshed open and Shirou dashed in with Nanoha close behind.

"Fate-chan!"

Shirou ignored Nanoha's cry and stared at the screen in disbelief. There was Fate Testarosa flying over the ocean. It wasn't a peaceful ocean scene. Calling it a storm would be a massive understatement. Shirou could see lightning dancing across the sky, multiple cyclones and massive waves, higher than anything he had ever seen. In the middle of it all were Fate and Arf, frantically dodging the bolts of lightning.

"I'll go there right away." Shirou barely heard Nanoha's comment as he stared at the scene in frustration. He couldn't help here no matter how much he wanted to.

"There's no need." Chrono's professional tone snapped Shirou out of his own frustration. He spun around to stare at him in shock. "If we leave her alone long enough, she'll finish herself off."

"You, what the hell are you thinking?!" Shirou grabbed a chunk of Chrono's uniform and pulled him close. "We can't just leave her out there in that!"

Chrono easily broke out of Shirou's hold and silenced him with a single glare. "We'll make our move once she's out of power."

"You…" Shirou gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream. There was a girl that he said he would save, and he was powerless to do anything. Even if he did go out there, he couldn't fly so he would only be a hindrance.

"Start preparations for capturing the Jewel Seed." Chrono ordered.

"Roger." The bridge crew followed their orders professionally as if they hadn't even heard the outburst.

Shirou stared helplessly at the screen and watched as Fate struggled to battle against the Jewel Seeds' power. He could see that she was exhausted and the energy that created the blade in Bardiche's Scythe Mode was starting to flicker as she ran out of magical energy.

"Now that we've found the last of them, we can't afford to lose them now." Lindy explained. Her tone was professional though she loathed the thought of leaving a girl alone in such a storm. "It may be cruel but that is the reality of the situation."

…

Nanoha didn't know what to do. She stared at Fate flying in the middle of a magical typhoon before turning her gaze to Shirou. The boy was gripping a handrail so tightly that she was surprised it hadn't started to warp. His breathing was ragged and she could see the pain in his eyes so clearly that it hurt.

What was she supposed to do?

She wanted to speak to Fate, she wanted to help her. But she had promised to follow Lindy-san and the TSAB.

_'Go!'_

The sudden voice in her mind startled her. Nanoha spun around to see Yuuno standing behind her. _'I'll open the gate for you, so go!'_

_'But Yuuno-kun. The reason I want to talk to her, the reason I want to talk to Fate-chan, it has nothing to do with you.' _Nanoha didn't want to get Yuuno in trouble for this. Not when she was doing it for such selfish reasons.

_'That may be, but…'_ Yuuno smiled reassuringly at her. _'When you're in a bad situation, I want to be your strength. Just like you were for me.'_

_'Yuuno-kun…'_Nanoha didn't know what to say to him.

_'Nanoha…' _Shirou's voice in her head surprised Nanoha even more than Yuuno's. The boy couldn't use telepathy without the aid of her or Yuuno. She saw the smile on Yuuno's face and knew that he had opened the connection between the three of them.

_'I…I can't help her, I can't help Fate.'_ She turned to the boy and looked into his eyes. She saw the pain and self loathing in his eyes and wished that she could erase those pains. But the pain was quickly swallowed by determination. _"I'm still weak, but you're not. You're strong Nanoha, much stronger than I am. You can help her, so go!'_

Nanoha felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes. She had such good friends. The gate behind Yuuno started to glow as he started the transfer process. However the noise and the light from the gate did not go unnoticed.

"You're?!" Chrono couldn't believe what these kids were doing.

Yuuno smiled as Nanoha passed him by and she offered one back to him.

"I'm sorry. Takamachi Nanoha is ignoring orders and taking selfish actions." Nanoha apologized and declared her intentions in the same breath. She could see the surprise in Lindy's eyes and the anger in Chrono's and she felt a bit of remorse. But she found Shirou's smiling face and he nodded. Nanoha nodded back and felt her confidence come back in full force.

"Transferring you to the girl's barrier." Yuuno performed a few hand seals to channel his magic before casting the transfer spell.

Light blinded Nanoha for a moment before she felt the gate pull her away. She was going, she was going to help Fate, and then hopefully she could talk to that girl with the sad eyes. Hopefully, they could find a solution to this problem. Maybe, she could help erase the sadness in those eyes too.

…

Shirou smiled at Nanoha and offered her a nod before turning his attention towards Yuuno. "You're not just going to leave her alone, are you?"

Yuuno smiled and shook his head. "Of course not."

"The two of you realize how much trouble you are in, right?" Chrono's voice shattered the joking mood between the two boys and reaffirmed their determination.

Shirou gave Yuuno a quick glance and tilted his head towards the gate. Yuuno got the message and ran into it and started to prepare his own transfer spell.

"Where do you think you're going?" Chrono started to move to intercept Yuuno, but he quickly stopped when a sword appeared in his path.

"Sorry. I can't help Nanoha out there, but I can at least keep you from interfering." Shirou tightened his grip on the sword in front of Chrono's path and glared at him. "Yuuno, go!"

"Transfer!" The flare of light that lit up behind Shirou told him that Yuuno had gone to help Nanoha.

"I can't believe this. What are the three of you thinking?!" Chrono shouted at Shirou who offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, but we didn't have time for this. Even if you won't do anything, we can't just leave her out there." Shirou looked over at the display to see Yuuno blocking Arf and Nanoha flying closer to Fate. "Fate is alone and in trouble, if you won't help her, then we will."

"Is that really how you feel Shirou-kun?" Lindy sighed as Shirou nodded with a fierce expression on his face. "Then I guess we'll have to wait and see."

Chrono turned to his mother, "But-"

"But nothing." Lindy cut him off. "I will not send you out into such a dangerous situation. Both Yuuno and Nanoha should be more than enough to settle this and even if we did want to pull them out, I doubt they would listen."

Shirou smiled at Lindy but his smile evaporated immediately at the sharp look she shot him. "But we will be having words with all of you once this is settled."

Shirou's head fell. He didn't know why people always yelled at him when he helped people. He helped people, why did people always focus on things like it being dangerous. "Yes ma'am."

The entire bridge turned their attention to the monitor. Shirou watched as Yuuno stopped Arf from attacking Nanoha. The dog familiar looked so conflicted by Yuuno's pleas that they didn't want to fight. He tried to will Arf into letting them pass from the bridge. The familiar was probably trying to protect Fate will all her being and Shirou hoped to god that she could see that neither Nanoha nor Yuuno wanted to harm Fate at all.

Shirou watched Nanoha call out to both Fate and Arf before flying straight into the heart of the storm. Yuuno let down his barrier and flew past the startled Arf. The blonde mage summoned a large magic sigil that summoned magical chains. The green chains wrapped around the six whirlwinds that littered the area.

Wait…Shirou wondered how chains could wrap around a miniature tornado but he quickly dismissed it as magic.

With the whirlwinds chained by Yuuno's magic, the storm seemed to strain briefly before dying down in the immediate area. Nanoha used the small window of calm to fly at Fate. Shirou watched as Nanoha called out to Fate and did something between their Devices.

"What is she-?"

"A mana transfer spell." Chrono answered his question before voicing his own frustration. "And it is going to make capturing Fate a lot harder."

Shirou smiled at the answer. Nanoha was going to help Fate. The fact that he couldn't do anything to help created a ball of lead in his stomach, but he made due with watching Nanoha save Fate. The fact that it aggravated Chrono also helped a little.

Yuuno struggled with the Jewel Seeds as they raged against his binding spells. The six whirlwinds that were the focal point for the Jewel Seeds writhed against the chains and for a moment the feedback threw Yuuno backwards even though he was so far from them. He quickly reoriented himself and tried tightened his grip on them when a surge of orange chains flew past him and joined him in shackling the wild Lost Logia.

"Arf." Shirou smiled at the sight of the dog familiar helping Yuuno out.

Yuuno and Arf together had a much easier time of chaining the excess energy running wild. The storm was still raging around Nanoha and Fate, but there was a spot nearly untouched by the wild storm. In that eye of the storm both Nanoha and Fate had started to gather the magical energy needed to seal the six Jewel Seeds.

"Gah." Shirou averted his eyes for a moment as the screen was blinded by a pink and yellow flash of magical energy.

Another monitor to the side pinged a few times as the signals it traced weakened from the resulting magical blast. Amy cheered and reported the results. "The six remaining Jewel Seeds are confirmed as sealed."

"What an unsystematic-" Chrono stared at the monitor in disbelief. He had not believed that they could succeed with such a method.

Lindy sat back in her chair and looked over at a cheering Shirou. "But that was amazing…"

The screen took a few moments before slowly clearing and refocusing on the area. When the screen was clear again Shirou gave a sigh of relief he didn't realize he had been holding before resuming his cheering. The chaotic storm that had been there a moment ago had disappeared completely leaving a peaceful ocean scene.

Both Nanoha and Fate were floating above the still ocean and in between the two of them were the six remaining Jewel Seeds. Shirou leaned heavily on the railing he had been gripping and smiled softly at the scene in front of him. It hurt that he couldn't save Fate himself, but seeing her out of danger was enough to settle his mind for now.

"Fate…" Shirou gripped the railing tightly as he stared at the two of them. That heavy feeling in his stomach seemed to burn for a moment as he felt like he was missing something.

However, whatever introspective thoughts Shirou was having were interrupted by the sharp blaring of the ship's alarm. Every single screen around them was flashing red with words in a language that Shirou couldn't read. It wasn't hard to see that it probably wasn't a good thing.

"Dimensional Interference?!" Amy cried out. "A wide range magical attack from another dimension is heading right for them and us!"

"Wait, them?!" Shirou's eyes turned to the single screen showing Nanoha and Fate.

"Ah! Six seconds until impact!" Shirou braced himself against the railing when he saw a blur of movement in the corner of his eye.

"Huh?"

The Dimensional Sea was torn open as a large magical attack was sent into the space that the Arthra was resting at. The ship buckled uncontrollably as it was battered by the attack. Shirou cried out in surprise and wrapped his arms around the railing to keep him steady.

Members of the bridge called out reports about the ship but Shirou ignored the action around him. His attention was secured on the screen in front of him. The sky above Nanoha and Fate had torn up and purple lightning rained down onto a single target.

Fate cried out in pain as the lightning coursed through her body.

"Fate!" Shirou screamed at the screen in horror as the attack landed on the blonde girl. The scream was mirrored by Nanoha as she dashed towards Fate only to be knocked back by another bolt of lightning from the sky.

Shirou watched helplessly as Arf transformed back into her human form to catch Fate and race to the Jewel Seeds. Her path was intercepted not by Nanoha or Yuuno, but by Chrono. The boy had transported himself to the scene right before the Arthra was hit by the attack.

The confident look on Chrono's face quickly shifted to surprise as Arf fired off a point black magical charge that launched him across the ocean sky. When the familiar turned back to the Jewel Seeds she saw that Chrono had pulled a fast one. Of the six Jewel Seeds that were there, three remained in the air. Chrono had managed to grab half of the Jewel Seeds before Arf's attack landed.

"You…!" Arf threw another magical blast down at the ocean floor. The blast fired up a spray of water that obscured everything from sight. When the water had cleared enough to see through, both Arf and Fate were nowhere to be seen.

Shirou could hear various voices on the bridge, the most prominent being Lindy's orders. None of it really made it to Shirou. He was staring at the empty space where Fate and Arf had last been seen. The lead ball in his stomach had turned into a feeling of dread. That last attack had been aimed directly for Fate. Not at Nanoha, or at Yuuno to drive them off. No, the attack had been at Fate.

The memory of a battered and wounded Fate flashed before Shirou's vision and only made the bad feeling in his gut grow worse.

There was one thing that Shirou was sure of though. Fate needed to be saved.

The only question was, from who?

…

Shirou, Nanoha, and Yuuno were all standing in front of Lindy and waiting for their verdict. They had all known that they would be breaking orders when they helped Fate, so they would accept their punishment.

However, it didn't mean that they weren't nervous about it.

None of them could look at Lindy and kept their heads down as she began her lecture.

"Following orders doesn't affect a single person, but an entire group of people. What I mean is that the selfish actions you took could have affected not only yourselves, but it could have also affected the people around you."

Shirou suppressed his wince and kept his head down. He was used to being scolded for things like this, but this was the first time it had been for something that could affect more than himself and the person he was helping. He hadn't really thought about the consequences when he made his decision.

"I trust you understand?"

"Yes." All three of them responded in sync.

"If this were a normal case, you both could expect severe punishments, but taking your magnificent results into account, we'll overlook your actions this time." Lindy saw the look of surprised joy on the three of their faces and decided to make sure the lesson stuck. "However, I will not do this a second time. You understand?"

"Yes." They repeated again, this time with a bit more enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Yuuno apologized with a small bow.

Shirou bowed along with Yuuno but kept quiet and silently thought that he would take the consequences and disobey orders if it mean saving Fate again.

Lindy sighed as she finished her lecture. Now they could finally address the real problem. "Now then, the big problem starts now, huh?

Chrono, have you learned anything about the incident, even superficial data?"

Chrono pushed off the wall he was leaning against and walked over to the viewing screen on the table in front of Lindy. "Yes. Amy, please transmit it to the monitor."

"Aye, aye!"

A small screen lit up in the middle of a table showing the profile of a woman.

"Oh my!" Confusion ran over Nanoha and Yuuno's faces, but both Lindy and Shirou recognized the woman, though for different reasons of course.

"That woman…" Shirou closed his eyes and recalled the picture he saw in Fate's apartment.

"Yes. The mage we're dealing with hails from the same place as us, Mid Childa. Precia Testarossa." Chrono continued his explanation. "Her field of study is in the development of energy sources allowing one to traverse dimensional space. Despite being a great mage, she was involved in an accident while doing illegal research, and was thus exiled.

The data we already have about her and the data from the magical assault earlier both match. And that girl named Fate is most likely…"

"Fate-chan. Back then, she said Mother…" Nanoha recalled the moment that the lightning had interrupted her chance to talk with Fate.

"I saw that woman before." Shirou walked towards the hologram above the table. "When I was at the apartment when Fate took me, there was a picture."

The woman in the picture in front of him wasn't smiling like the picture he had seen, but it was definitely the same woman.

"Fate was in it, she was standing next to this woman." Shirou wondered if this was what was hurting Fate. The memory of the girl covered in lashes came to mind and Shirou wondered if it was possible for a mother to do this to her child.

"Mother and child, huh?" Lindy whispered softly. That would make this much more complicated.

"U-umm… rather than being surprised… she seemed to be more frightened." Nanoha looked down and recalled the frightened expression on Fate's face.

Lindy broke out of her thoughts and made her commands. "Amy! Are you able to pull up any more details about this Precia woman? Like where she went after being exiled? Or anything about her familial relationships? Anything at all?"

"Aye, aye. I'll look into it right away."

Shirou stared at the picture of Precia Testarossa on display. He wondered what could take away the bright smile he saw in the photo and change it to this.

…

It had taken a little bit of time before Amy had been able to pull the data that was requested. She walked in front of all of them and started her report.

"Presia Testarossa according to Mid Childa records was the third director of the Central Science & Development Bureau twenty six years ago. But, she was also privately working on a thesis involving energy sources allowing the traversal of dimensions. Then, the concepts of this 'Hydra' thesis were tested."

Shirou blankly wondered if he was supposed to understand any of this. He gave Yuuno a glance and was glad to see that he seemed to understand what was being said. Hopefully he could ask him for a simple explanation later.

"She conducted her experiment with illegal materials, and the experiment failed. The results included a mid-scale dimensional disturbance at the beginning, which caused the fissuring of the entire central area, eventually engulfing the surrounding areas."

Shirou tried to imagine the kind of disaster that had been created by the experiment. He didn't really understand a lot of the terminology that Amy was using, but even he could tell that a disaster from messing with dimensions wouldn't be small.

"Apparently, there was a large dispute about the incident. She said that the failure didn't exceed her expectations and that the materials she used weren't illegal. She moved many times after that, continuing to perform her secret projects, but at some point, the records lost track of her whereabouts. And that's about all I could find." Amy concluded her report.

Shirou closed his eyes and wondered how Fate came into this picture. A young girl being dragged along by her mother while on the run. Constantly moving from place to place, dealing with the dangerous experiments that her mother created, and her only companion being the familiar she created.

"I think the three of you should take some time to rest." Lindy's voice directed at them broke the image that Shirou had created and dropped him back into the meeting.

Wait, rest?

"Huh? But…" It looks like Nanoha was just as confused as he was.

"Especially you and Shirou. It's not good for you to miss school all the time." Lindy cut off any argument they could make. "I'll approve a return trip for now. It'd be a good idea to see your family and make an appearance at school again."

"Yes." Shirou wanted to protest but the soft agreement from Nanoha cut him off and he sighed in agreement. He didn't think that school was important when there was someone needed help like Fate. But, he had promised to obey orders, so he would obey for now.

…

Shirou and Nanoha had returned to the Takamachi house along with Lindy. Yuuno had come too, but he had to return to his ferret form. Shirou had been worried that he would get in trouble since he had disappeared once Fate had kidnapped him. But luckily, Kiritsugu had made up an excuse that Shirou was out with an old friend of his. So when he had come back to the Takamachi house, he was greeted with cheerful smiles and nothing that indicated that they knew what he had been through.

Though he was sad to find out that his kitchen ban was still in effect for disappearing without informing them.

Lindy was talking with Nanoha's parents but it had been a bit boring so he had moved to the dojo to practice a bit. Shirou swung the pair of wooden practice swords clumsily through a kata. He was trying to recall the strength and speed that he was able to wield when he used his Projected weapons, but it didn't seem like he would succeed anytime soon.

"You're trying too hard."

Shirou yelped and tripped over his own feet at the voice. He looked up to see an amused Takamachi Shiro standing over him with a hand extended. Shirou accepted the hand and pulled himself to his feet before picking up the practice sword he dropped.

The older Shiro smiled at his daughter's best friend and offered a bit of advice. "You're swinging too wide. That maneuver is more about precision than power, so you don't need to swing as hard. I know it looks like a fast swing when Kyouya does it, but you need to build up some more arm muscle before you can control the sword at such speeds."

Shirou blushed at being caught practicing what was essentially their family style, but he was silently amazed at how quickly Takamachi-san had picked up on what he was doing. He had noticed that the sword style that the Projected swords used were similar to Kyouya's so he wanted to get his body used to the movements. "A-ah… I just thought I would try it out."

Shiro pulled one of the practice swords off the wall before facing Shirou. "The techniques we've taught you are rather basic, but they're essential before moving onto the advanced maneuvers."

"Um…" Shirou was a bit embarrassed at the gentle scolding. "Right."

"But, you have shown quite a bit of improvement."

Shirou would have normally blushed at the praise, but at the moment, the fact that he had gotten stronger didn't erase the fact that he wasn't strong enough. His hand gripped the handle of his practice sword so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Not enough though."

The bitter comment was muttered under his breath but it wasn't quiet enough to go unnoticed by the man. Nanoha's father stared at the red haired boy that had become a pseudo part of his family and wondered, not for the first time, if he was doing the right thing by not stopping him and Nanoha. Kiristugu had mentioned that the both of them were up to something dangerous, but he had assured them that they were under the watchful eye of someone he trusted to keep them safe.

Takamachi Shiro sighed before patting Shirou on the head. The boy looked up at the older man with a curious look.

"Come on." Seeing the reluctant look, Shiro decided that he should throw the boy a bone. "If you're quiet, I might just be able to sneak you into the kitchen. We need to serve some snacks for our guests."

The starry look on the boy's face was a bit disturbing, but Shiro decided that it was an improvement from the self loathing he had seen before.

…

"Nanoha-chan!"

Shirou smiled at the sight of seeing Suzuka hug Nanoha. Nanoha looked happy to see her school friends again. His appreciation of the scene was cut off by a swift swat to the back of his head.

"Ack!" Shirou rubbed the wound and glared at his assailant. "Alisa-san, what was that for?"

Alisa huffed at him. "You disappear for half a month and then get Nanoha dragged into whatever mess you created and you have the ask what you did? Are you an idiot?"

Shirou winced at the accusation and quickly tried to defend himself. "I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal?!" Alisa swatted the back of Shirou's head again. "You disappear without a word and you think we wouldn't make a big deal out of it! We're your friends, you idiot!"

Shirou stepped back away from the angry girl and looked around for support. To his dismay, Suzuka was glaring at him from her position of hugging Nanoha and his best friend didn't look too happy either.

"But-"

"No buts, Shirou." Suzuka was actually glaring at him. It was a look that he didn't see very often on the kind girl, so it unnerved him to see her angry at him. "You left your friends hanging and thus you need to be punished."

Shirou's eyes went wide and he shot a pleading look towards Nanoha. She was actually giving the idea some thought before smiling at both Alisa and Suzuka.

"Um! Good idea. Shirou needs to learn his lesson."

"Ahaha…" It seemed that Nanoha still had a little anger leftover from when he was kidnapped. Shirou slowly backed away from the three advancing girls. "Mercy?"

The response was unanimous.

"Denied!"

…

"I need male friends." Shirou sighed as he rubbed a bruise on his head that Alisa had given him.

The comment got Shirou another hit to the head. He would have made a comment about being abused, but the combined glare from all three girls shut him up quickly.

"So the both of you need to go back again?" Suzuka turned back to Nanoha.

"Yeah." It was a little sad that their reunion would be so short.

"It must be hard."

"A little, but everything will be fine." Nanoha smiled brightly. "And I have Shirou to keep me company too."

"Did you hear that?" Shirou squawked when Alisa suddenly pulled him into a headlock. "You have to make sure Nanoha is okay. Not the other way around."

"I got it, I got it!" Shirou flailed his arms as he tried to escape the hold.

"Do you have time after school?" Suzuka and Nanoha expertly ignored the two struggling next to them. "Do you think we'll be able to play for a little bit?"

"Yes, that should be fine." Nanoha agreed.

"Then… do you wanna come over to my house." Alisa released Shirou from the headlock. "I have a new video game."

"Really?" Shirou sighed a little at the invitation. He was terrible at video games.

Alisa tilted her head as she recalled something. "Oh, now that I think about it, I also found a hurt dog last night."

"A dog?"

"Another one?" Shirou tilted his head. "Don't you have like ten dogs already?"

"Another isn't going to hurt." Alisa huffed at Shirou. He didn't really have any room to talk. He helped people, she helped dogs. "Anyways, it's rather large, has orange fur and has this funny red jewel on its forehead shaped like an oval."

"Ah…" Both Shirou and Nanoha recognized the dog that Alisa was describing. It was a pretty unique look for a dog.

…

The group of four had gone over to Alisa's house like they had planned after a quick stop to pick up Yuuno. Once they had gotten there, Alisa pulled them over to see the dog that she had talked about.

Shirou saw the beast form of Arf's within the cage and winced at the severity of her injuries. There were a lot of bandages around the dog's frame and he couldn't help but wonder what had been able to injure her like that.

A familiar tug at the back of Shirou's head told him that Yuuno wanted to open a connection with Telepathy. Shirou easily let the ferret take care of the spell so that he could be a part of the conversation.

_'So it is Arf after all.'_ Nanoha peered closer at Arf through the cage bars.

_'You, eh?' _Arf didn't seem too surprised to see them at all.

_'Where did you get those injuries… and where is Fate-chan?'_ Nanoha asked with a hint of concern.

However, Arf didn't seem to have any inclination to answer the questions. The dog turned around and lay down with her head facing the other directions.

While the girls talked a bit, Shirou felt Yuuno hop off of his head and stop in front of the cage.

"Ah, Yuuno that's dangerous." Suzuka stepped forward to pick up the ferret when Shirou stopped her.

"Its okay, Yuuno is smart." Shirou smiled as he sat down next to the ferret.

_'I'll listen to her story myself, so you guys can go play with Alisa and Suzuka.' _

Shirou scowled a little at that before turning to the girls. "I'll make sure Yuuno is safe and catch up with you."

"Eh?" Alisa frowned down at the red haired boy. "Well, I guess it would be nice to spend some time without a boy hanging around."

"Ah." Nanoha looked a little hesitant about leaving. "Are you sure?"

Shirou nodded while Yuuno sent an affirmative through their link. _'Shirou, you don't have to-'_

_'I want to hear this too.'_ Shirou shot back. He needed to hear this.

"Alright." Nanoha would leave this to the two of them and relax. She was sure that Yuuno and Shirou would tell her what they heard later.

"Make sure to keep Yuuno safe." Alisa gave a last command before leading the girls to her house.

The girls walked towards the house chatting happily, leaving the three of them in silence on the front lawn. Shirou waited patiently until their voices finally disappeared into the house.

"Alright, I think they're gone."

_'Thank you.'_ Yuuno nodded before turning back to Arf. _'What happened between you two?'_

_'If you're here, than that must mean the Administration Bureau is watching, huh?'_

_'I'm Chrono Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. It would appear that your circumstances are quite complex.'_ Chrono's voice echoed through all their minds. _'If you could explain them to me truthfully, I promise nothing bad will happen to you._

_Nothing will happen to you, or your master, Fate Testarossa.' _

Shirou watched Arf think about the offer and silently plead for her to accept.

_'I'll tell you… everything.'_ Shirou sighed in relief as Arf cooperated. _'But promise me… promise me that you'll save Fate. That girl's done nothing wrong.'_

"I already promised that." Arf looked over at Shirou who had not moved his gaze from her from the start of the conversation. "I said I would save Fate, and nothing is going to stop me from doing that."

_'You…'_ Arf was speechless. There was no doubt in the child's words or his eyes. He would save Fate, and looking down she saw the same determination in Yuuno's eyes too.

_'As you can see, we have no problem keeping that promise.'_ Shirou wondered if he heard any amusement in Chrono's voice, but he quickly tossed the thought away. Chrono was too serious to joke like that. _'Amy, start logging.'_

…

Shirou leaned back against the cage that Arf rested in. His mind was trying to piece together the full picture. He held some of the pieces because of the memories he held when Fate had taken him and now with Arf's story he could paint a much clearer picture of what was going on.

He took his image from before and started adding some details to it. A mother lost to her own obsession, a daughter frantically trying to please her, and a familiar doing her best to support her master. The marks that Fate had back than made much more sense now.

_'Shirou?'_ Shirou looked down at Yuuno who was looking at him in concern. '_Are you alright?'_

Shirou wondered briefly what would have happened if Yuuno had never found the Jewel Seeds, or if they had never been dropped onto Earth.

Nanoha would have never become a magical girl and he would have continued his training as a Magus in secret. Would he have had the same success as he had before, or would he have continued to fail to do even the most basic Magecraft? This power that he now held, would it have come naturally, or was it just something from the Jewel Seed?

And more importantly, would Fate have been punished like this despite not having the Jewel Seeds to chase? Without the failure that they had caused, would that woman still have treated her daughter in the same way?

But all the questions that whirled around in Shirou's head didn't change the one truth that had appeared in this moment.

They had to save Fate.

"Yes." The pieces had all lined up and now all they could do was act. Nanoha was all ready to go help Fate, maybe even more than Shirou. Chrono and Lindy even had given them the okay to save Fate rather than defeat her.

A bright smile was on Shirou's face as he pushed himself to his feet and picked Yuuno up. "I'm just glad."

_'Ah. Good.'_ Yuuno was glad that he didn't need to worry about Shirou. He had been afraid of what Shirou would do when confronted with Fate again, but the Earth Magus only wanted to help Fate despite the past. _'Then we'll make our move tomorrow morning. I'm not really sure what we're going to do, but we do have one thing that can lure her to us.'_

Shirou looked down at the manacle that was wrapped around his right arm. The Jewel Seed that had reacted to him was stuck inside his body. No attempts to extract it had been successful, so the Device was the only thing keeping the Jewel Seed inside of his body from activating. Several others were held in Raising Heart and a few were held in Chrono's Device. "So she'll be coming for them?"

_'Probably. If Fate is going after the Jewel Seeds, than this is the easiest way to obtain them. I doubt Fate will try to storm a TSAB ship.'_

"That's fine." Shirou started to walk towards the mansion.

It was fine if Fate came after them. After all, as long as she was in front of them, as long as she was within reach, they could do something.

But for now, Shirou had some friends to play with. The last thing he needed was Alisa yelling at him because he didn't spend any time with them.

…

The rest of the day had gone by in a blur. Shirou had died horribly at the video game that Alisa and Suzuka showed him several times before following Nanoha to her house.

Nanoha was determined to spend some time with all of her family members and Shirou was content to follow along. He enjoyed his time with the family and before he knew it, the day was over.

Shirou sat in the middle of his bed and slowly controlled his breathing. The rest of the family had long since gone to bed. Shirou was going through some last minute preparations. He needed his Projections to be at its best and he finally recalled the last bit of advice that Kiritsugu had given him.

It had been a while since he had meditated. With all of events that had happened, and his focus on his experimenting with his new Projection magic, Shirou had let the practice fall to the side. He honestly didn't need it too much, since he did not need the absolute concentration that he used to forge a Magic Circuit, but it was something that was familiar and comforting. Kiritsugu had mentioned that it would probably help with his Projections, but Shirou had not really listened.

Breathe in.

"Trace… on…" He pulled back the hammer in his mind.

Breathe out.

The hammer fell and fire surged through his body, but it was controlled, held back from burning through his body like it did before. His own Magic Circuits doing a much better job of channeling Od than the makeshift ones he created before.

Breathe in.

He held back from using the Od. He didn't want to cast any spells at the moment. The blueprint of Kyouya's swords flashed through his mind. The materials, the crafting process, the history of the blade all were stored in his mind. However, with no Od to craft the blade, the blueprint quickly faded from Shirou's mind.

"Trace…out…"

Breathe out.

The Magic Circuits closed and the fire was gone. Shirou let his body relax and cleared his mind.

_'Are you still practicing?'_

Shirou opened his eyes and found Yuuno watching him from the bed he had thrown together. Yuuno had slept with Nanoha at first, but after a bad night where Nanoha had tried to eat him in her sleep the ferret changeling had slept in Shirou's room. Shirou had mentioned that he was going to stay up a bit to practice his Magecraft. That had been hours ago.

"Yeah, I want to make sure that I'm ready." Yuuno shook his head at the idea. Shirou had been absentminded the entire day. It wasn't hard to see that his thoughts were on Fate and their promise to save her. He really took this Ally of Justice thing seriously.

_'Don't worry. You're not the only one that wants to save her after all. If you burn yourself out tonight, then you'll be too tired to do anything tomorrow.'_

"You're right. I guess I forgot." Shirou felt a little embarrassed at the gentle scolding. He wondered again if Yuuno was the same age as him or if he was older. The question kept slipping his mind during conversations. "I'm just… a little nervous."

It would be the first time that he would see Fate after his escape. He wondered how she would react to him and how he would react to her. The faint memory of his promise echoed in his mind and only made him more nervous about the next morning.

_'Get some sleep. I have a feeling that we're going to need it.'_ Yuuno curled back into a ball to take his own advice.

"Right." Shirou nodded before lying down. "Good night, Yuuno."

His mind was filled with the thought of saving Fate yet he dreamed of nothing but swords.

…

Shirou slowly closed the door to the Takamachi house. He nodded to Nanoha who was waiting for him outside the house and let Yuuno climb onto his shoulder. All three of them shared a brief smile before running down the street. They ran silently for a moment before Yuuno got their attention. A brief look to the side showed Arf running along the wall next to them. She leaped down to the ground and ran next to them. Shirou smiled brightly. All of the pieces that they needed were here.

Now they only needed Fate.

Hopefully, she would come find them. The biggest problem that they had was that Fate would most likely not come quietly. That meant there would be a fight. The magic that Nanoha and Fate threw around had a very high chance of causing collateral damage. Shirou wondered why a Barrier spell wouldn't work, but Yuuno was unsure if he could hold back Nanoha and Fate's full power if they fought. So they needed a wide area where Nanoha and Fate could let loose.

Shirou had pointed out that no one was hurt when all those Jewel Seeds had activated over the ocean and suggested the seaside park. Nanoha agreed that it would be a good spot.

It was still early in the morning and the normally lively park was empty when they arrived.

"This place should be perfect." Nanoha was happy that they had found a good place. She turned to face the group with a solemn expression. "Now, all we need is Fate-chan."

Shirou closed his eyes and waited. A small breeze swept past the area and Shirou felt it ruffle his hair. The familiar sea tinted air blew over them, but it could not mask the charged energy that slowly filled the air.

"She's here." Shirou whispered before a mechanical voice called out.

"Scythe Form."

The group all turned around to see Fate standing on top of a light post holding Bardiche in Scythe form. Arf took a step forward.

"Fate, let's stop this once and for all. You can't listen to what that woman says anymore. If you keep going like this, things will get worse and worse. So Fate…!" Arf cried out desperately.

For a moment it seemed like Arf's voice had reached Fate, but she shook her head. "But even so… I am her daughter."

"Fate…" He took a step forward and looked up at the girl. Fate's eyes shifted over from Arf to him and for the briefest moment, he thought he saw her flinch. Would their words even reach her? "Please, stop this."

"I…" Fate grip on Bardiche tightened as she gathered her resolve. "I will be taking that Jewel Seed from you also."

Shirou felt a pang in his chest. He knew what was going on in Fate's head. He had given it a lot of thought after Arf had told them what Fate was doing and even if he wanted her to listen, he knew that Fate would not be swayed by his words.

"You can't just throw away everything you've done so far, right?" Nanoha walked past Shirou and transformed into her Barrier Jacket, Raising Heart held in her hand. Her words conveying the thoughts that plagued Shirou's mind. "You can't even considering running away now."

"I'm sure that the Jewel Seeds are the reason behind your actions. So, let's bet them. Each of us will put our Jewel Seeds on the line!" It was a gamble, but it was the way that Nanoha wanted to do this.

"Put Out." Raising Heart summoned all the Jewel Seeds that they had collected so far. Opposite them, Bardiche did the same with the Jewel Seeds that Fate held.

Fate's gaze turned to Shirou and paused for a moment as he recalled his promise.

_"Shirou, I want to fight Fate-chan by myself."_

_Shirou choked on his own breath before staring at Nanoha in complete confusion. "What?!"_

_Nanoha repeated herself with a bit more force. "I'm going to fight Fate-chan by myself."_

_"No way. I'm going to fight too." Shirou didn't need Nanoha protecting him. He may not have the magical power that she did, but he was still strong in his own way._

_"Shirou, I want to do this myself." Nanoha looked out the window. The night sky was clear and she could see a few stars in the sky. "You understand Fate-chan, don't you?"_

_Shirou paused as the conversation went in a completely different direction than he thought it was going. "I… I guess." _

_"You do. I can tell." Nanoha smiled at Shirou. He was always trying to help people, and even though Fate had done so much to him, he still wanted to help her. "I still can't understand Fate-chan yet, but I want to."_

_"So you're going to fight her." Shirou understood the idea, even if he didn't like it, he understood it. _

_"Yes. So promise me you won't interfere."_

_Shirou looked away. He wanted to say no. He wanted to say that he couldn't make such a promise. But he saw the look in Nanoha's eyes and knew instantly that saying no wasn't an option. It was just like when they had first become friends. There would be no arguing with her._

_"I promise…"_

Shirou placed a hand to his chest. "I can't pull this one out, but it's included in this bet."

He would believe in Nanoha's strength. Even if it burned him inside to rely on someone else, there was nothing else he could do. His hands still couldn't reach Fate's.

"Now… let's settle everything." Nanoha swung Raising Heart forward. "Everything about us has yet to begin. So, in order to truly start things between us…"

"Let's begin… our true first and final match."

* * *

><p><em>AN: And so the we build up towards the climax of the story. The penultimate battle between Nanoha and Fate begins and the true mastermind behind the battle is exposed. The battle for the Jewel Seeds is heading to its final chapter and I'm excited to actually finish a story.<em>

_Anyways._

_Tell me what you think._


	7. Chapter 7: Garden of Madness

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Seven:**

**Garden of Madness**

* * *

><p><em>He often wondered if his father planned these things or if he was simply seeing too much into it.<em>

_They had managed to get some used Kendo gear for training. _

_So father and son had started to spar using the Kendo gear. They never really learned the rules, and it was rather generous to call it Kendo, or even a spar._

_No, it was more accurate to call it a fight or even a beating. The two opponents were father and son after all, so the outcome was determined before the match could even begin._

_A child is obviously weaker than an adult._

_An unprepared person will lose to a prepared one._

_An inexperienced fighter will lose to an experienced fighter. _

_He doubted that his father had actually wanted to teach him these things, but the lessons were learned either way. _

_However, they did create questions that would plague him for years to come._

_How could he get stronger?_

_What did he have to prepare against?_

_Where could he gain experience?_

…

Lightning bolts cut through the sky. In retaliation, the sky was dyed pink as several magical blasts were shot.

Nanoha dodged the Photon Lancers that Fate fired, but Fate had more difficulty losing the more maneuverable Divine Shooters that followed her through the air. Switching Bardiche back to Scythe Mode, she cut down the magical attacks rather than try to outmaneuver them.

Shirou watched the fight that was quickly picking up pace. His eyes flickering side to side as he tracked both Fate and Nanoha's movements. Yet, even as he tracked the twin ribbons of yellow and pick across the sky, a stray question pierced through his mind.

Was he weak?

It was a question that had been plaguing him since he had promised Nanoha that he would let her fight Fate alone. It was not a promise he wanted to make after all. He hated having to rely on someone else.

How could he rely on someone else to fight his own battles if he was going to be an Ally of Justice?

He couldn't. That was all there was to it.

It was why he didn't go straight to the Takamachi's when Kiritsugu was gone. He knew they would welcome him with open arms. They would probably treat him like one of their own, but even if it was just a little bit, he wanted to take care of things himself.

But even Shirou could see his own limits when they were so blatantly placed in front of him. The spar with Chrono had given Shirou a good look at just how powerful Mid-Childa magic could be. It had taken everything Shirou had just to scratch Chrono's jacket. Shirou knew that he had only touched the surface of his new magic, but…

He watched Nanoha go toe to toe with Fate in the sky and Shirou began to see just how much stronger he had to get.

Still, Shirou couldn't help but be amazed by the two girls battling in the air. Both of them were so strong.

Nanoha had become a completely different person compared to the girl that had barely been able to seal a Jewel Seed. Speed, strength and even battle tactics had all jumped at a ridiculous pace. It wasn't just Raising Heart or Yuuno's tutoring, there was a definite level of talent and hard work that could only be attributed to Nanoha.

Fate had surprised him too. He knew that she was a better fighter than Nanoha, and much stronger than he was, but he hadn't realize just how much she had been holding back during the battles over the Jewel Seeds.

Shirou turned his attention back to the fight as it started to pick up the pace. The two girls clashed in the sky several times, each impact lighting up the heavens. The two combatants then broke apart from each other and once again let loose with the potent magic that they both held. Pink and yellow blasts crossed the sky in equal numbers as both girls attempted to blow the other out of the sky.

Nanoha used a stray Divine Shooter as a feint before shifting back to close combat. Shirou watched Nanoha try to sneak up on Fate with a Flash Move, but a last second barrier blocked the sneak attack.

The sky was lit up again as the magical power from both of them created a large corona of light that obscured them from sight. Shirou saw their silhouettes through the light and gasped as he saw Fate use the light to attempt her own sneak attack.

Nanoha had been able to dodge but only just barely. A tiny bit of her Barrier Jacket was sliced off by Bardiche's Scythe Form. But Fate's attack wasn't finished just yet. Nanoha tried to break away for more room, but found herself trapped by several of Fate's Photon Lancers. The lightning blasts rained down on the girl as she struggled to fend them off with a quick Round Shield. Each lance slammed into the girl's barrier and seemed to push her backwards with each strike.

The fight was starting to take its toll on both Fate and Nanoha. Shirou's eyes shifted from the girls to the sky as the overcast weather began to change. The sky started to rumble and lightning arced through the clouds above them. The heavens' themselves raged around the two girls in a fury of wind and lightning. In the center of the storm stood Fate, a bright yellow magical circle glowing ominously below her.

Shirou could feel the magical energy from their watching place. Several more magical circles started to appear all around Fate and Nanoha and more and more lightning seemed to condense around Fate.

Nanoha stopped looking at the build up of the spell and began her own, but she had waited too long. While her attention had been caught by the shifting weather, Fate had cast another spell. Both of Nanoha's arms were pulled to opposite directions as Fate's Lightning Bind wrapped around her wrists. There would be interrupting this spell.

_'This is not good. Fate has gotten serious.' _Shirou shoot a look of disbelief at Arf. What they had just been doing wasn't serious?

_'Nanoha, I'm going to support you from here.'_ Yuuno called out.

_'Don't!'_ Nanoha screamed back. _'Don't interfere. This is a match between Fate-chan and I.'_

_'But it'll be bad if Fate gets serious.'_ Arf protested.

Shirou stared out at the girl held down by the yellow rings. Despite the thundering sky and flashes of lightning that were rapidly increasing in number, Nanoha did not have an ounce of fear.

"She'll be fine." Shirou knew that Nanoha was declaring that same statement despite being so far away. Yet, even as he said those words, doubt crept into his mind. She would be okay, right?

The heavens rumbled as the overcast sky was suddenly filled with lightning. The stormy sky finally reached a crescendo as Fate finished casting her spell, a variation of the Photon Lancer spell, Phalanx Shift.

The sky rained down lightning upon Nanoha. Shirou watched carefully and noticed that several of the blasts seemed to be deflected away before they even got close. A quick glance at Fate made him wonder if it was because she missed from exhaustion or if it was because Nanoha was defending from them.

The sheer number of blasts seemed to overwhelm the defense that Nanaha had put up and soon the area that the girl had stood was covered in smoke. However, Fate would not underestimate her opponent. Many of her attacks had been blocked, so a finishing blow was needed.

The last remnants of the storm were called into Fate's hand and an enormous lance of lightning was created from it. The finishing blow as launched directly into the center of the smoke cloud before detonating.

Everyone watched the dispersing smoke cloud in the sky, fearing the verdict. When the wind cleared the last smoke away they all stood in shock, Nanoha floated there without a single scratch on her. She had endured the entire attack without taking any damage.

"This is it. That was Fate's last shot at taking Nanoha out." Shirou could see that Fate had nothing left. That was supposed to be the last spell of the battle.

Nanoha pointed her staff at Fate and fired her retaliation. Her Divine Buster washed over Fate and Shirou was surprised that the blonde girl had managed to block it. But he could see the strain on her face. It was taking everything she had just to endure the attack.

But Nanoha wasn't done yet. Shirou felt the same feeling as before, a huge amount of magical energy being gathered in the sky. Nanoha had flown above Fate and held Raising Heart in the air. The device was in shooting mode and below her was a growing sphere of pink magical energy.

"Is she… taking magic from the air?" Shirou could barely see the strands of energy gathering into Nanoha's spell. Pink streaks of energy were accumulating into one large pink orb of magic that stood in front of the girl.

"She must be gathering the residual magic from the entire battle." Yuuno whispered in awe. It was a powerful strategy that would gather an enormous amount of magic when used at the right time and after that last spell of Fate's there was a large amount of magical energy floating in the air. "But is she going to have enough time to cast it?"

Shirou wondered that too, until he saw why Fate wasn't trying to interrupt Nanoha from casting whatever monstrous spell she was preparing. "I think Nanoha took a lesson from Fate."

Four binding spells were holding Fate in the air as Nanoha prepared her ultimate attack. Finally, Nanoha was ready. The orb in front of her had reached full capacity. Raising Heart was swung down at the orb that contained all the magical energy that lingered in the air.

Starlight Breaker fell down on Fate with all the force that Nanoha possessed amplified by the residual magic that was left in the air. _The S-ranked bombardment spell lit up the heavens as Nanoha poured her entire self into this final attack._

"Oh geez," Shirou's eyes widened as the giant pink magical beam tore downward and consumed Fate completely. Knowing Nanoha, she had forgotten a small detail about what would happen after an attack like that. "Yuuno!"

Shirou called out to the ferret as he moved. The fight was over so it wasn't interfering. Or at least, that was what Shirou was telling himself anyways.

Yuuno seemed to gather what Shirou was thinking and a green circle appeared under Shirou's feet.

…

Nanoha panted as she tried to recover her strength after casting that last spell. Starlight Breaker was the strongest spell she had and it was very hard to cast. She honestly had no idea how she was going to hit Fate with it until Fate had used that Binding spell to hold her down.

The battle was over. Held only by the Restrict Lock spell, Fate Testarossa had not been able to retain consciousness after being hit by Nanoha's final technique. The binding spells that held Fate finally wore off and the girl started to fall as gravity once again took hold of the girl.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha yelped as she dove down to rescue the girl.

It was a wasted effort as a green magical circle appeared below Fate and in a flare of green light, Shirou appeared on the circle and caught the girl.

Unfortunately, this did nothing for Nanoha who was diving at high speeds to catch the falling girl. The girl had a moment to blink in surprise before crashing into the water with a great splash.

Shirou shook his head to clear the water from his eyes only to sputter again as Nanoha blasted out of the water and floated next to him.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha flew next to Shirou and checked over the girl to make sure she was alright.

"I've got her, don't worry." Shirou winced a little at the ache in his arms. He wished he had thought to Reinforce himself before doing that. The catch had been rougher than he would have liked. If Yuuno had been a bit later he wasn't sure if he would have been able to catch her.

"Mou… why didn't you warn me you were going to do that?" Nanoha pouted at Shirou. She was not happy that she had gotten wet for no reason.

"Why didn't you think about what would happen after you hit Fate with… whatever that giant beam was?! We could feel the magical power from all the way from the shore!" Shirou retorted quickly.

"Bleh." Nanoha stuck her tongue out at him. "Shirou would have forgotten too."

"No, I wouldn't have!" He probably would have kept Fate in the air and forgotten about keeping himself above water, but that wasn't the point.

Any further argument that the both of them could have had was cut short by a small moan and Fate shifting in Shirou's arms. The angry shouting seemed to have broken Fate from her brief trip into unconsciousness by Starlight Breaker.

"Ah, you're awake." Shirou smiled down at her. "Are you alright?"

"Um…" Fate was still dazed from the blast, but she was quickly regaining consciousness.

"Ah… I guess I won." Nanoha smiled softly at Fate.

"Yes… it looks that way." Fate struggled to contain the complex emotions that were going through her mind.

"Put out!" Bardiche's sudden comment made Shirou blink in surprise. He watched as Bardiche released the Jewel Seeds that Fate possessed. The eight Jewel Seeds hovered over them.

A small jolt ran through the boy's chest and he had to suppress the gasp that wanted to escape his mouth. The manacle on his right arm grew hot and it felt like it was starting to burn into his skin. His mind was starting to fade as something seemed to press out from his-

"Shirou?" Nanoha saw the odd look that passed over her friend's face and turned her attention to him.

"It's… nothing." Shirou shook his head as it started to clear.

Fate seemed a bit surprised by the interruption and she looked up at Shirou for the first time. A small blush appeared on her face as she realized the position she was in.

"Ah." Shirou started when Fate started to struggle weakly to escape his grasp. "Sorry. Did you want to stand?"

He moved to put her down when he felt another surge of magical energy. Except this time it wasn't from a safe distance. It was potent and filled the immediate area. Shirou's eyes turned to the sky before widening at the sight.

"Nanoha!" Shirou managed to push Fate away from the magic circle that he was standing on into the arms of a surprised Nanoha.

Just in time as a massive lightning bolt slammed down on the Jewel Seeds and the boy that was beneath them.

"Gaaaaaahhh!" Shirou screamed in agony as the lightning surged through his body. His limbs locked up and the magical circle that Yuuno set up to hold him up collapsed under the heavy magical attack. Without a foothold to keep him in the air, Shirou fell into the sea below him.

Shirou felt his mind start to waver from the pain and the shock of being dropped into the freezing ocean. His chest felt like it was on fire and the manacle on his arm felt like it was melting through his arm.

The instinct to gasp for breath backfired as water poured down the wrong pipe and Shirou thrashed weakly as he struggled against the ocean's grip. But it was a futile effort, Shirou barely knew how to swim and in his panicked state, all he could do was thrash his limbs in a desperate attempt to surface.

However, salvation seemed to come in white as arms wrapped around him and pulled him out of the water. Shirou latched onto the person like a lifeline and gasped for air after they broke out of the ocean.

"Shirou, are you okay?" Shirou coughed out the water lingering in his lungs as Nanoha panicked over him. It took him a few moments to regain his breath but Shirou quickly recovered enough to reassure his best friend.

"Nanoha, I'm okay, I'm okay." Shirou repeated the statement a few times. It was as much for her as it was for him. That lightning had hurt, but he had to push past it. There was something else even more important at the moment.

Shirou turned to look at Fate. She flinched at the attention he was giving her. His eyes were full of emotions that she couldn't read. "More importantly, Fate, are you okay?"

"Eh?"

Nanoha groaned and resisted the urge to shake the boy in her arms. It was just like Shirou to worry about someone else after being hit by lightning and almost drowning. She probably would have to make sure he went to the infirmary too.

"I-I'm fine." Fate whispered and was surprised at the smile that appeared on Shirou's face. It was a calm smile, just an upturn of Shirou's lips, but there was something in his eyes that caught Fate's attention. There was sign of the pain that he had just endured and there was no sign of distrust or fear from what Fate had done to him. No, there was only happiness that she was okay.

Even as Yuuno and Arf joined them and they had started to escort her to the Arthra, Fate could not escape the image of that smile.

Why? Why was he smiling at her like that?

…

Shirou leaned on Yuuno's shoulder as the group entered the main deck of the Arthra. He was a bit annoyed that Fate was in handcuffs, but Yuuno had explained that at the moment, Fate was a prisoner. It was procedure.

Not that Shirou was a big fan of the Arthra's procedure so far. He had already broken so many rules during his stay on the ship.

There was a great commotion going on in the ship, but considering they had just lost eight Jewel Seeds while Nanoha was saving Shirou, he wasn't that surprised. He heard something about infiltration but the rest was lost in the scramble of troops and personnel.

Lindy saw them walk into the deck and went to greet them.

"Good job." Her attention turned to the rather subdued Fate. "And… Fate-san, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Fate looked down at the shackles around her arms and Bardiche in its gem form in her hand before looking away.

Lindy turned to face the view screen and Shirou was confused by the moment of silence that suddenly drifted in.

Nanoha seem to start at something and broke the silence by turning to Fate. "Come on Fate-chan, let me show you my ro-"

"All hands have successfully infiltrated the throne room." Whatever Nanoha was attempting to do was too late. All of them turned to the screen to see soldiers surrounded Precia in some sort of throne room. "We've located the target."

"Precia Testarossa! You have violated the laws of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. You will be arrested for attacking the Bureau's warship. Drop any weapons you have and come over here!"

The soldiers all started exploring the rest of the area and the camera on the screen shifted over to the exploration group. In front of them was a room filled with tubes. The room was tinted in green and in the center of the room was a tube filled with a sleeping girl, floating in the same viscous green substance that filled each of the tubes. The girl curled up in the tube was very familiar.

"What?" Shirou turned to look over at blonde girl next to him before turning back to the screen in confusion. The girl in the tube was the splitting image of Fate Testarossa.

"You!" In a flash, Precia had moved in front of the tube as if to block it from sight. The soldier closest to the tube was blasted backwards by the woman. "Don't you dare come near my Alicia!"

The soldiers cried out to their comrade before firing their weapons, however not a single blast made it close to the woman. Her barrier blocked every attack with an absurd ease. Precia glared at the soldiers in distain. "How annoying."

"Look out! Pull back immediately!" Lindy cried out as Precia prepared her own attack.

Precia decimated the rest of the soldiers with a blast of lightning. Not a single one was spared from the woman's wrath.

Shirou vaguely heard Lindy give out orders to call back the soldiers, but his attention was stuck on the screen. On the woman that was leaning against the tube and pressing her hands against the glass as if to embrace the girl held inside.

"It looks like everything might have been in vain." Precia whispered to the girl sleeping in the tube. "We are out of time."

"With only eight Lost Logia, we may not be able to reach Al-Hazard, but..." Precia turned around to face the spell that was capturing the scene. "But it's all right now. I'll put an end to everything."

"To all of the time this girl was deprived of after I lost her and also to the doll I created to play the part of my daughter."

Shirou's eyes widened. It couldn't be. He turned his head to look at Fate before turning it back to the girl floating in the pod. There was no way…

"Are you listening? I'm talking about you, Fate." Precia's voice was suddenly filled with a perverse pleasure as the terrible truth was finally revealed. "Even after I went through the trouble of giving you Alicia's memories, only your appearance is the same. You were a useless, unusable scum… my little puppet."

Shirou's mind was sent a whirl by the revelation. Amy filled in the missing pieces and Shirou's mind completed the picture. A horrible accident had cost Precia her daughter, and the research that she was involved in had given her something terrible.

Hope.

The Fate Project. The creation of artificial beings and the ability to reincarnate the dead. The research that Precia had been involved in had consumed her. The creation from the project had been given the designation, Fate.

Yet, it hadn't been enough. Whether Fate had been something completely different than Alicia, or Precia was too far gone to remember what Alicia was like was unknown.

"Fate, in the end, you were really nothing but an imitation of Alicia. Even after I gave you her precious memories, you were no good."

"Stop it…" Nanoha couldn't listen to this anymore. These harsh words couldn't be real. She wanted them to stop it. "Stop it!"

"You…" Shirou stared at the woman in the video and shook his head. Anger burned through his body at the woman that denied the girl next to him. He stepped forward and screamed out at the screen. "Can you really not see what's in front of you?!"

"Oh…" The scream had seemed to break Precia out of her destruction of Fate's world. Her gaze shifted a bit to look down on the angry red head. "I think I can see perfectly clear. After all, Fate was only a plaything to console me as I worked to bring back Alicia."

"You're wrong!" Shirou denied Precia's words with all his being. "You just can't see it. You can't see Fate at all! She has been working so hard for you! Suffering, fighting, and trying to make you happy. Can you really not see any of that?!"

The girl next to him was not a puppet or a fake. She had cried, fought, suffered, and did her best. She was a daughter, desperately reaching out for her mother. Nothing about that was false!

"Ahahahaha…what a stupid child." Precia laughed at Shirou's words. "I'll tell you something good, Fate. Ever since I created you…"

Shirou shook his head and screamed at the screen, but nothing he could have done would have stopped Precia's words from being spoken.

"I've always hated you!"

And with those words, those hateful words, Fate Testarossa's fragile existence shattered. The life in the girl's eyes faded away and her body fell limp.

The motivation behind her life, the reason she had suffered, all of it was for her mother. The memory of her mother smiling down on her, it had been false, but it had been her driving force. She had learned, fought, endured, and so many things all so that precious person would smile.

To hear that same person say that she hated her, it was beyond painful.

"Fate!" Shirou spun around and joined in on the group checking on the girl. Yet no matter what they said or did, Fate's eyes continued to stare unseeing. The life had fled from the girl's body.

"The infirmary." Yuuno, ever the voice of reason, cut through the panic as Precia started her plan to rip an entrance to Al-Hazard. "We should take Fate to the infirmary."

"Right." Shirou made a move to pick up Fate, but Arf beat him to it. Shaking his head, the boy ran off ahead of the group. He had been in the infirmary enough to memorize the route. "This way!"

The alarms had painted the hallways red as they ran through the ship. Halfway towards the infirmary, however, the group met a surprise.

"Chrono?" Shirou blinked in complete surprise, an expression that was mirrored by Chrono. How did they met him here, didn't he head in a completely different direction to get to the gates?

"Chrono-kun, where are you going?" Nanoha noticed the fierce look and S2U in Chrono's hands.

"I'm going to where the action is. If we don't strike this down at the source…" Chrono left it unsaid what the dimensional damage would do.

"I'll go with you." Nanoha immediately volunteered. Yuuno followed after and Shirou only a moment behind.

Chrono stared at them for a moment before nodding. "Understood, however Emiya you're staying here."

"Eh, why?!" Shirou shouted angrily. There was no way that he was going to stay behind.

"The Jewel Seeds are causing the dimensional disturbance. With eight of them activating at once as well as the local disturbances over there, we can't be sure that they won't affect the Jewel Seed inside of you."

"Then Arf and Shirou will stay with Fate." Yuuno agreed with Chrono. Shirou gave him a betrayed look which he responded with an apologetic one. Chrono was right. It would be too dangerous to bring Shirou into such a chaotic environment. The Sealing Device would keep the Jewel Seed in check, but it hadn't been tested for high stress conditions yet. Yuuno turned to Arf who gave a nod of acceptance at her role. She would protect Fate, it was her job as Fate's familiar after all.

"Let's go!" At Chrono's urging, Nanoha and Yuuno followed him to the ship's dimensional gate. Nanoha gave Shirou a worried look as she pasted him. Her friend wasn't the type to take something like this well.

Shirou watched them disappear around the corner before blowing up. "They can't just ask me to stay here!" Shirou screamed at the hallway. If he missed this chance, than Precia would get away and Fate…

Shirou's eyes went back to the girl held in Arf's arms. If Precia got away, then Fate would never have the chance to confront her. To be seen by her, to be acknowledged as her daughter.

Shirou couldn't, wouldn't let that happen.

"Sorry."

Arf turned around at the noise to see Shirou running down the hallway.

"Oi! Brat!"

But Shirou didn't turn around. He wouldn't be left behind.

…

Shirou's train of thought as he followed Chrono, Nanoha and Yuuno into the Garden of Time was rather simple. Fate had been hurt. She had been hurt badly. He recalled the broken look in the girl's eyes and cursed his own powerlessness. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to help her.

So he would do the only thing he could think of. He would bring Precia in. He would make her take back those words that crushed Fate. He would make her talk with Fate and see the girl that was in front of her.

It was a childish hope. But then again, despite his maturity, his independence, and his warped perspective, Shirou was still a child.

But that childish wish had steeled Shirou's determination. This was no longer about helping Nanoha despite the fact that she didn't need his help (a fact that was slowly becoming more and more clear to Shirou as he watched Nanoha grow stronger and stronger each day), it was about saving a girl that desperately needed saving. Shirou's mind was filled with nothing but the thought of helping Fate. Nothing would interrupt that and nothing would get in his way.

Desire is a funny thing. Deep down, desire is the root of progress. People create, destroy, and persevere because of their desires. The Jewel Seeds reacted towards desire. Whether or not this was their intended purpose is unclear, but what is clear is that they worked to make their user's desire reality. Even sealed within the boy's body, the Jewel Seed still attempted to fulfill its purpose.

Shirou opened his eyes as the teleportation magic finished transporting him into the Garden of Time. He saw the entrance was filled with giant robots armed to the teeth. Just in front of him were Nanoha, Yuuno and Chrono who turned in surprise at his entrance.

"Shirou?" Nanoha and Yuuno were looking at him in surprise while Chrono was glaring at him in anger. Nanoha's look of surprise turned into exasperation. She should have known that Shirou wouldn't listen to them.

"Emiya, I thought I told to you stay on the ship." Chrono walked towards Shirou as he yelled at him but paused when Shirou finally turned his head to glare at him.

"Move." Chrono faltered as he felt something pass over him. The sheer intensity of Shirou's glare along with the wave of 'something' had been enough to cause the experienced mage to pause. His eyes looked down at the manacle that was on Shirou's wrist and his eyes widened to see sparks coming out of the Device.

Shirou glared at the obstacle that was in his way. He knew that Chrono was trying to keep him safe, but his own safety didn't matter. How could he even think about saving himself when that girl was crying?

He couldn't. It was as simple as that. His safety didn't matter as long as he could save those around him. The self that was Emiya Shirou once again twisted as it took another step towards that unreachable goal.

"I said… Move." Shirou spoke, no, ordered. In spite of himself, Chrono took a step backwards at the cold command. Shirou walked past the mage and continued towards the giant robots standing guard around the entrance.

"Shirou wait!" Nanoha shouted at her friend to stop. "It's dangerous!"

But Shirou didn't hear her. His mind was somewhere else, focused only on moving forward. His vision swam for a moment and the golems seemed to fade away in a sea of white. Yet they weren't completely gone. He could see their weapons. Giant weapons, forged for their size.

A wave of vertigo engulfed Shirou and he resisted the urge to throw up. He body felt like it was burning from the inside out and his left arm was pulsating to an unheard rhythm.

Kyouya's swords wouldn't do it here. They were wonderful swords for close combat, but for an armored opponent, one that was larger than a small house, they would be useless. He needed a weapon to fight these golems, a weapon that could destroy the golems in front of him.

But Shirou did not worry for a moment. His mind was blank as his body prepared to fulfill its sole purpose.

Shirou stepped forward until he was within one of the golem's reach. The giant robot's programming activated and commanded it to destroy the intruder. It landed in front of the boy and swung down its sword to kill the boy.

Shirou saw the sword coming down and jumped to the side. The sword smashed into the ground and the force of the blow threw Shirou further to the side. But it didn't matter. The strike had missed and Shirou had an opening. The distance would normally be a problem with how far Shirou had flown but at this moment, it meant nothing.

"Trace…" Shirou landed roughly on his feet before twisting his body to prepare for his strike. "On!"

Nanoha and the group watched in complete surprise as a copy of the sword that the golem had swung at him appeared next to Shirou. In fact, Shirou had his arms wrapped around the handle of the sword as if he was wielding it.

"What is he…?" Chrono was startled by this new skill. The Sealing Device on Emiya was malfunctioning. Was this new skill caused by the Jewel Seed in his body?

Even as Chrono worried about the repercussions of the Jewel Seed within Shirou activating in the environment, he was even more confused by what summoning the giant sword would do.

The sword was created for the giant golem in mind. It was a large broadsword with no elaborate ornaments on it. For someone of Shirou's size, the sword was massive. Rather than having a hand grip the hilt, Shirou's entire body was wrapped around the hilt to hold the blade. There was no way that the giant sword could be swung by someone as small as Shirou.

But Shirou twisted his body to swing the blade. The weapon was rather new. It had no special properties and its history was almost nonexistent, however Shirou didn't need skill for what he was doing. He only needed the strength to wield the weapon. That kind of strength was outside of Shirou's capabilities, but even if he couldn't become that strong, he could at least imitate the strength needed. His body screamed in protest as he pushed it beyond its limits once more, but Shirou, using strength that he didn't possess, swung the blade down.

The golem tried to spin around to block with its shield but it was too late. The imitation sword carved a trench deep into the golem's body before getting stuck halfway through and shattering like glass. The golem sparked for a moment before exploding in a pyre of fire and metal.

The destruction of one of their brethren had caused the other guard robots to spring into action. A halberd smashed through the remains of the robot that Shirou cut. The weapon missed Shirou but forced him to back.

Shirou rolled back to his feet right away. His eyes scanned all of the robots and his mind burned as more and more information poured into his being. Option after option seemed to appear as more and more weapons became inscribed into his very being.

The last sword broke. But it should have held up fine. No, the problem had been with him The imitation had been flawed. Shirou's mind burned as he dissected weapon after weapon in his mind.

Shirou's battle was not with the army of golems in front of him. No, his battle was with his own mind. If the sword's image in his mind was flawed, then it would not hold up. He needed to replicate the sword perfectly.

Reaching through the chaos that was swirling through his body, Shirou pulled out another weapon.

Shirou raised both hands into the air to hold the weapon that had yet to appear. "Trace On!"

Light condensed into his hands as he poured his Od into the air and shaped it. The blueprint fresh in his mind, Shirou recreated the halberd that nearly just smashed him.

"Gaaaaaaahhhh!" Shirou stepped forward and heaved the giant halberd towards a robot that was charging towards him. The halberd impaled the robot and carried backwards until it crashed into another of the robots in the room. An explosion rang out as both golems were destroyed by the imitation.

Shirou felt his body scream in protest from the move but he didn't care. He wasn't going to be stopped by his own limits. He pressed through the pain and pulled back the trigger in his mind again. His Magic Circuits flooded more Od into the air.

"Trace…"

"Get down Emiya!" Shirou's trance like state was broken when a strand of blue energy sliced through the robot that was closest to him. Shirou threw his hands over his face as the robot exploded after being bisected by the attack. The strand spun through the air and carved through several of the robots before spiraling into the air.

"Chrono?" Shirou turned around to see Chrono pointing his Device at another group of the golems.

"Snipe Shot!" The spiraling energy dove down and curved through the air to impale a group of the robots as if they were standing still in a line. All of the golems froze for a moment before the destruction of their internal parts caused cascading failure. A line of explosions rang out through the room and shook the ground.

The attack continued through all the guards until it reached the final one standing at the door. The Gatekeeper, a larger golem in even heavier armor, swung its axe down to block the attack, but it was a useless effort. The attack faded before even reaching it. It had only been a distraction after all.

Chrono had not been standing still during his attack. Seeing the heavily armored Gatekeeper, he had already known that that Snipe Shot would have not been enough to pierce through the golem's armor. He had moved forward and used the spell as a distraction. The golem's defenseless back was open in the moment it swung and Chrono took advantage of that momentary opening. He landed lightly on the robot's defenseless back and prepared the attack that would crush the golem.

"Break Impulse!" Chrono ordered as he swung his Device down. A pillar of magical energy fired up from the tip of his device as it crushed the robot beneath it. The robot's explosion was echoed by every other robot in the room as they all fell from the mage's attack.

Shirou stared in complete awe at the destruction that Chrono caused. Shirou had strained himself just destroying the robots one by one, but Chrono had cleared the room with ease.

He had known that Chrono had taken it easy on him when they sparred, but he didn't realize by how much until now.

"Emiya!" Shirou flinched as Chrono walked up to him and stared down at him. "I don't know what you're thinking, but if you're only causing more problems. This place is dangerous and the Jewel Seed in you is only going to make it worse.

"The Sealing Device-"

"Is not working correctly!" Chrono grabbed Shirou's arm pulled the Device into sight. Shirou blinked in surprise at the sparks coming out of the Device. Now that he was noticing it, the Device was burning hot. It felt like the Device was trying to melt through his wrist to come off. The small gem attached to the manacle was blinking rapidly and across the gem were the words 'ERROR'.

Nanoha and Yuuno ran up to them and Nanoha gasped at the sparking Device. "Shirou!"

"It's fine! I'm fine!" Shirou pulled his arm out of Chrono's grip before pushing past him. "I'm going to make Precia take those words back. I don't care what you say, but I am not going to sit around and do nothing!"

"Shirou, it's dangerous!" Nanoha shouted. "You could get hurt!"

Nanoha recalled when Shirou had grabbed the Jewel Seed. The fire, the destruction, and the worst thing, Shirou dead on his feet, walking forward while being killed by the Jewel Seed. She shook her head. She wouldn't let that happen again. She wouldn't!

"I don't care!" Shirou retorted. "I am going after Precia and nothing any of you say is going to stop me."

"Che, I don't have time to argue with you." Chrono hated it, but they didn't have time to spare and Shirou would not go back without an argument. "But you are going to follow my orders. If you feel like that thing is going to cause trouble I'm sending you back."

Shirou scowled at Chrono in acceptance. "Roger."

"Shirou, you should-" Nanoha looked at her friend in concern and raised a hand to grab his shoulder.

"Let's go." Shirou ignored her and walked towards door.

"-stay back…" Nanoha finished sadly. Yuuno stopped in front of her and gave her a worried look but she shook her head. They needed to focus. She could always yell at Shirou later.

Chrono kicked open the door and they all saw the entrance of the Garden of Time. It was filled to the brim with more robots guarding the area. Beyond them were a staircase leading both upstairs and down.

"We'll split up into two teams here." Chrono gave his orders before hesitating. He looked over at Shirou for a moment before scowling. "Yuuno, Nanoha, I want you to head upstairs and try to seal the power source."

"What about Chrono-kun and Shirou?" Nanoha didn't want to leave Shirou alone when he was like this.

"We'll be going after Precia. It's my job and I doubt Emiya is going to go anywhere else."

Shirou nodded at Chrono's orders. "You got that right."

Chrono pointed S2U forward. "I'll clear a path for you."

Chrono fired off a Blaze Cannon that smashed a path through the golems blocking the stairwell. Nanoha took the opening and dashed through the clearing with Yuuno in tow before it could be filled by more guards.

"Chrono-kun, Shirou, be careful!" Nanoha called out before she disappeared up the stairs.

Both Chrono and Shirou nodded before turning their attention back to the golems. Chrono's attack had made a small dent in their numbers, but the room was still filled with the golems.

"That trick before. You created a sword that the golem was holding. Can you do it again?"

The blueprint of that particular sword, as well as several others that different golems were holding, flashed through Shirou's mind. A river of information that Shirou could barely grasp flooded from his being into his mind.

"No problem."

"Then make sure to keep up Emiya. I can't watch you and fight at the same time." Chrono's clipped advice burned Shirou's pride.

"Don't worry about me." Shirou called a giant sword into his arms. "I won't fall behind."

Chrono gave him a hard look before nodding. "Hmm. Then I'm counting on you."

S2U was pointed forward and a lance of blue energy piercing through several golems was the starting bell to the battle. One golem got past the string of energy that sliced through its comrade and rushed the caster. However, a large sword stopped it in its tracks before another swing tore out its side.

"Don't even think about it!"

One threat eliminated, Shirou rushed over to the next golem closest to him. He didn't need to worry about Chrono, the older boy had already shown that he didn't need help.

Shirou lost himself in the battle. The sound of steel against steel along with the surges of magic that flashed through the room filled his mind. Weapon after weapon was forged by his magic as he and Chrono destroyed golem after golem.

Another sword shattered against the original. The sudden disappearance of the blocking weapon had thrown both Shirou and the golem off balance. Shirou had the benefit of being smaller and quicker on the recovery. Another sword replaced the one that was lost and

His body screamed in both pain and elation. He was pushing his body to its limits and maybe even beyond them, but a part of him couldn't help but feel like this was where he was supposed to be. This was what he was made to do.

Shirou released the sword that was stuck in a golem's body and jumped out of the way as a large axe smashed the ground he had just been standing on. A blast of blue magic caught the golem in the chest and pierced through it causing it to explode. Chrono was as precise as ever.

Shirou called up another giant sword and spun around to slice off the legs of the golem that was trying to use the explosion as cover to sneak up on him. The weapon tore through the armored legs and unbalanced it.

The golem fell forward without its legs and Shirou swung his sword once more to cut through the golem's body. A second later he ran from the body as it exploded. He glanced around and saw no golems were trying to attack him at the immediate moment.

Shirou used the momentary break to catch his breath and think about what he was doing. He was limited to swords at the moment. He had been using spears for range and as a thrown weapon before, but the longer weapon took a lot more Prana to make and Shirou was running himself ragged already.

His arms were trembling from the strain of using the gigantic swords. Shirou raised a hand to rub his shoulder and winced as he scrapped it against something. There were several shards of metal sticking out of his arm just below the shoulder.

"Ow. Stupid Shrapnel." He muttered under his breath. Some of the metal from one of the golems must have lodged itself into his arm.

Had Shirou looked closer, he would have seen that the metal was localized on one spot. That rather than sticking into his arm, the metal was poking out from under his skin. But, it wasn't restricting his movement, so it was fine to ignore it for now.

Shirou glanced around the room and tried and failed to count the remaining golems in the room. He was thankful that Chrono was taking up most of their attention. He wasn't sure what he would do if so many of them attacked him at once. Another flash of blue light was followed by several explosions.

Chrono weren't as powerful as Nanoha, but he didn't need to be. He was using the exact amount of energy he needed to destroy each golem. Precision and experience at its finest.

However, Shirou was sure that neither he nor Chrono could do this for much longer. He was quickly running out of steam and the last time he had been able to look at Chrono, the older boy was looking rather exhausted by the prolonged fight despite his efficient fighting style.

Another golem landed in front of Shirou. His break was over. His mind snapped back to the fight at hand. That was right, he couldn't be stopped here. His goal was beyond these golems and much deeper within the Garden of Time.

"All of you..." Shirou summoned a towering sword into his arms and rushed the golem blocking his way. "Are in my way!"

It was a rough combination, but Shirou wasn't really sure how to use a broadsword, let alone one larger than a small car. The first slash cut at the golem's elbow to disarm it and make sure it couldn't attack. Shirou twisted around for the second swing, bringing the sword around full circle for momentum as it cut through the golem hip to shoulder.

The wreckage of metal and magic fell apart as Shirou ran past it. He looked around for another golem to fight when he saw an opening. A set of stairs leading down towards the chamber Precia was in. Not willing to let this chance go by, Shirou dashed towards the opening.

"Emiya, stop!" Chrono moved to follow Shirou, but his path was cut off as another pair of golems landed in front of him.

Shirou ignored Chrono's orders and ran down the stairs. Precia Testarossa was down there and he would not miss this chance to confront her.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Stuff happens, Shirou finally gets to do something!<br>__  
>Yeah, this part of the story has always been a bit chaotic in my planning. So much happens at the same time and there is so much potential for cool stuff. Though Chrono I wanted to show off a bit. The scene where he just systematically plows through every single guard in that first room needed to be kept in.<em>

_If only to show that the girls in this show aren't the only ones that can blow stuff up._

_And Shirou does stuff! He does not take kindly to Precia's words and you can tell that there is just a __little bit wrong with him. And the next part will be fun (or it will be once I get an idea of what I want to happen)._

_Anyways, tell me what you think._


	8. Chapter 8: Limits

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fate Stay Night or anything from the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Mahou Senki: Lyrical Days<strong>_

**Chapter Eight: **

**Limits**

* * *

><p>Emiya Shirou ran forward.<p>

The walls quaked from the sheer intensity of the battles within the Garden. Another tremble hit the building and shook the entire hallway sending bits of dust into the air as the walls broke down all around him.

Shirou choked on the dust and paused to catch his breathe. His breathing was ragged and he could barely think with the alarm that was been blaring. It had been on since the beginning of their assault.

The flashing lights in the hallway didn't make things better. The only bright side was that none of the golems that littered the hallway had been a problem.

Not a single golem moved to intercept him.

Shirou pushed it all out of his mind. He needed all of his focus on his goal. Everything else was unimportant.

His body had long since been pushed past its limit. The Projection magic that he was using was taxing and he had torn several muscles using the strength his Projection granted him. If he gave his aching body an ounce of attention it would give out.

Even worse was the pulsing energy that was pouring out of his body. Chrono had said that the Sealing Device was not working correctly and Shirou had to agree with him. There was no other explanation for the overflowing energy that was burning him slowly from the inside out.

There was something still holding it back, but there was too much to be contained. It poured out the excess into Shirou's body. His body filled up before it spilled out into the air around him.

It hurt so much.

But Shirou couldn't let that stop him.

He had to keep going.

He had to move forward.

He had to get Precia to take back those words.

He had to save that girl.

It didn't matter if his body burned.

If it would stop that girl's tears than it would be more than fair.

So Shirou pushed the pain and the power that he couldn't begin to control out of his mind.

…

Precia Testarossa waited impatiently with Alicia.

The entire plan had fallen apart long ago for her. The initial experiment had started it all. Her plans to save Alicia, the Fate Project and finally her plan with the Jewel Seeds had fallen apart too.

But the final plan wasn't beyond repair. It would be difficult to create a portal to Al Hazard with so few Jewel Seeds, but it wasn't impossible. She was already starting to tear through the dimensional space.

However, just to be safe, there was one last Jewel Seed that needed to be collected.

She didn't understand why the Lost Logia was sealed within the red headed boy. She doubted that the TSAB would just let such an experiment run around, but it didn't really matter.

She had commanded her golems to let the boy pass and so far the boy was heading straight down for her while the others were held back by the numerous robot guards in the Garden.

Precia leaned against the cylinder that held her daughter and caressed it gently. "Soon Alicia, we'll have the final piece we need… and then…" Her body shook as another round of coughing attacked her body. "Then… we'll be on our way."

She whispered more sweet promises to her daughter that waited for her to save her until the room shook with a great crash.

The doors that lead to the room were blown open. Slowly, she took her eyes off her precious Alicia and turned to towards the interruption.

Ah, excellent. The key to her future stood panting at the entrance. All she needed to do was pry it out of its wrapping.

…

Shirou dropped the giant sword and walked past the rubble that had been the door to the room a minute ago. His eyes darted across the dark room and lingered for a moment on the green tube that held the slumbering Alicia Testarossa before they focused on his target.

Precia Testarossa stood leaning against the tube and was looking at him.

"You…" Shirou's eyes sharpened and the haze that had filled his vision as he ran through the hallways disappeared. "Take it back!"

Shirou blinked as Precia bent forward and shook a little. He wondered if she was having another attack before he heard it. Laughter, a low mocking laughter that soon grew and filled the room.

She was laughing again. That same laughter that mocked Fate's pain, her struggles. Shirou hated that laughter.

There was a vicious grin on Precia's face as she finally faced him. "Idiot boy."

A raised palm was the only warning that Shirou got. A flash of blue preceded the impacted that knocked him back out through the door he had just entered.

Shirou hit the ground hard and struggled to figure out how he had gotten back into the hallway. His ribs protested a bit as he pushed himself back to his feet and stumbled back into the room.

"Stupid, but durable." Precia's mocking insults managed to pierce through the ringing in his ears.

Despite Precia's words, Shirou wasn't stupid. When Precia had raised her hand for the knock out blow he had already Projected Kyouya's swords. The world blurred as his body was pulled out of the way of the blast.

And the second.

And third.

And several more.

It turns out whatever talent Fate held she had inherited from her mother.

Shirou was pushing his body to the full speed that these swords would allow. He was moving in several directions and even bounding up the walls to avoid the magical blasts that seemed to engulf the room.

It was like one of those games that Alisa and Suzuka played with the Shrine Maiden and witch. There were magical bullets everywhere and he needed to find the gaps in between them.

The room became a blur of green and blue as Shirou dashed in between the magical blasts that filled the room. He appeared in front of Precia and swung both of his swords at the staff in her hands.

The one weakness that he found with Mid Children magic was the need for a Device. Yuuno had mentioned that doing magic without a Device was still possibly but it was much harder to cast combat spells without one to do the complex calculations needed for their spells.

If he could separate Precia from her staff he would have a much better chance at winning.

The twin swords were halted by a thin wall of blue light just in front of Precia. Shirou's eyes widened for the briefest moment before he was pulled away by the instincts within the swords.

Shirou gasped for breathe as he was forced to move faster and faster. The explosions echoing right behind him told Shirou he was only a moment away from defeat as he darted around Precia poking for a hole in her defense.

But it was a futile effort. No matter how fast he moved, he couldn't catch her off guard. It was like she had eyes in the back of her head.

Had Shirou been paying more attention, he would have noticed the blue orb floating above Precia's head. Wide Area Search was a spell that Nanoha had not used in front of Shirou. The blue orb granted awareness to its caster's Device and through it Precia was able to keep track of Shirou even if he attacked from her blind spot.

A sword hung in air for a moment before launching itself like a bullet towards Precia as Shirou moved to strike Precia at the same time from behind. But the sword was consumed by a magical blast and his strikes were stopped by another barrier.

Shirou broke away from Precia once more and restarted their dangerous game of cat and mouse. Magical blasts rained down attempted to smite the agile swordsman.

The fight, if it could be called that, took all of a few minutes, but it had quickly taken its toll on both combatants. After all, both of them were fighting on borrowed time.

Precia Testarossa's body was ravaged by a disease. It had eaten away at her body and even her mind, and while casting this much magic would have been easy in the past in her current condition it was a hardship.

And Emiya Shirou. He had been fighting beyond his own limits the entire time. Ever since that first Projection against the golem he had pushed past what his body could handle. His Magic Circuits protested violently and it was only by chance that they had not crippled him.

His left arm had almost completely gone numb. His body screamed in protest from every moment and not only because of torn muscles. Tiny interwoven blades were locked in random places both under and pushing through his skin. Every movement tore more and more of his body apart.

And yet it wouldn't stop him. A foreign presence was healing the damage. It was not consistent, no, it would slow and rise at random intervals, but it was keeping him going none the less.

It was a race for time. For Precia, it was against the disease that was harming her body.

For Shirou, it was how much longer his body could handle the strain of his abilities.

And the first one to fall was Emiya Shirou.

Another attempt at striking Precia had shattered the sword in his right hand.

Shirou danced backwards through the magical blasts and opened his hand to call another sword but nothing appeared. Emiya Shirou had finally hit empty.

The final sword in his left hand didn't last much longer as it was smashed by a stray magical blast that had gotten a little too close.

And that was it. Without the speed granted by the swords' abilities Emiya Shirou may as well had been a sitting duck. Even at his very best, he could not hope to match Precia Testarossa without magic and Emiya Shirou was far from his best at the moment.

Shirou managed to dodge one more attack before another caught him in the leg. He cried out as his leg was knocked out from under him. Shirou hung in air for a moment before the second shot slammed into him and sent him crashing into the wall of the room. Before he could even leave the crater he made against the wall another blast slammed into him and deepened it.

Completely dazed from the attack, Shirou fell. He could hear Precia mocking him from across the room, but he was too tired to understand anything the woman said.

Damnit. Was this as far as he could go?

That was the thought that went through Emiya Shirou's mind.

He had made it this far. He had gotten to Precia Testaroosa. All he needed to do was make her take her words back. That was all he needed to do to save Fate. She was going to get away. She was going to get away with those words and Fate was going to lay there broken hearted.

Fate's face flashed before Shirou's mind. The girl's dead eyes and broken heart as her world was shattered around her. All by Precia's words.

_Flash_

_This girl stood before him hurt and desperate. Something was hurting her. Even hurt and without his memories Emiya Shirou knew what he had to do._

_"I swear I will save you."_

_Flash_

No, he wouldn't let that happen. He couldn't let that happen.

Desperation erupted within Shirou. It filled him completely. And those that are desperate simply desire something more than life itself.

Fire erupted in his body. Magic, more magic that he knew what to do with was coursing through and out of his body. The Jewel Seed had awoken to Emiya Shirou's wish.

"What is this?" Precia was surprised when the boy pushed himself to his feet. He had been hit hard enough to put an adult mage with a Barrier Jacket down, and here was this boy standing up.

Haze seemed to pour out of the boy and distorted the air around him. Through the haze, small bits of metal glinted as they pushed out from under the boy's skin. Like armored scales, they covered portions of his skin.

His eyes rose up and caught her own. Precia took a step back at the cold grey eyes that stared back at her. Hadn't the boy's eyes been amber?

That moment of surprise would cost her as Shirou moved forward. A giant sword was instantly Projected and swung down at Precia. The large blade fell down with crushing force only to shatter as it met an immovable barrier. Precia had recovered fast enough to cast a Shield spell that even the golem's sword could not break.

But that was fine. Shirou hadn't meant for that blade to hit at all.

The fragments of the swords scattered and hit the ground. They kicked up a cloud of dust that obscured the entire room. Precia growled at the deception and sent out a pulse of magic that blasted the dust away from her and would keep the boy from trying to sucker punch her.

But the cloud was blown back to reveal an empty room. The boy was nowhere to be found.

"Over here!" Shirou roared from above as he kicked off the ceiling of the room. He fell down onto the surprised Precia and slashed out with both of his swords.

Both swords were blocked by a hastily raised staff and a small smirk made its way onto Shirou's face.

The swords were twisted and ripped the staff away from Precia's hands.

Shirou broke away from Precia for a brief breather. He had done it. He had taken away her Device. All he needed to do now was subdue her.

Precia stumbled back as she tried to catch up on what had just happened. Shirou stepped forward and Precia stared at the steel grey eyes that were trained on her.

His focus was only on her. Without her staff to aid her he could shatter her Barrier and defeat her.

Her focus divided between the boy and her staff. He was fast, but surely she could reach her staff before he could pierce through her Barrier. Then it was only a matter of binding him long enough for the extraction.

Their tactics decided the two combatants moved forward. Or, at least one of them did.

Shirou tried to move forward, but time had finally caught up to him.

"Gah!" Shirou gasped for breathe as his body locked up. His body was wracked with pain but that was not what stopped him. Red lightning ran across his body and shackled it from moving any farther.

"What?" Shirou struggled to move his body forward, but the lightning seemed to grow in intensity and seized up his body. A glance down showed Shirou what was causing this to happen.

The Sealing Device on his wrist was glowing bright red. Now that his attention was on the Device he felt it, it was burning hot. The final measure programmed into the Device, in case the Lost Logia activated again, had been triggered. All energy left in the Device was to be used for an emergency Sealing.

That fire that both seemed to burn Shirou body from the inside out and fuel him forward slowly seemed to drain away from him. It crawled slowly away across his body until it was gone.

The Jewel Seed and all of the power that had come with it had once again been sealed back into Shirou's body.

"W-wha…" Once relying on his own power, Shirou stumbled. His body was too worn out to move without any support. Like a rubber band snapping back, all the trauma and damage that had accumulated from the battle finally started to take their toll on Shirou.

"I…" He fell to his knees as his legs refused to support his body for another step. He could no longer breathe and his entire body was trembling like a leaf caught in the wind. "My body…"

"It seems like you've finally lost your steam, boy." Blue bands of light snapped around Shirou's limbs and pulled him into the air. Precia had not taken the reprieve from attack for granted and had retrieved her Device.

"N-no…" He weakly struggled against the bonds but it was pointless. He couldn't even stand let alone break the Binding spell.

"You've wasted enough of my time." Precia coughed up more blood before shaking off the pain. She had the final piece she needed.

The Garden of Time shook once more as it slowly destabilized in the pocket between dimensions. The rift between the dimensions was slowly consuming the Garden. Precia only had a little time before her window to Al Hazard was closed.

"Extraction."

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh !" Lightning coursed over and into Shirou's body. It surged through his body as it quickly found the object it was looking for.

It felt like someone was reaching into his body and trying to rip out his organs with a hand made of lightning. More and more energy was poured into his body until he felt like he was going to break.

Finally it seemed to end. Shirou's body fell limp and once again was only held up by the binds around his wrist. His vision swam and his mind was filled with cotton. His body felt like it was on fire and his throat was hoarse from screaming.

It took Shirou a few moments to realize why Precia had stopped. Another voice was speaking. "-cer is heading this way right now."

In a herculean effort, Shirou managed to raise his head and look across the room to see Lindy floating on the other side of the room with wings coming out of her back. Shirou had the briefest moment where he thought he was hallucinating from the pain before he discarded it. Even his mind wouldn't imagine Lindy as a guardian angel.

Still, the battle with Precia had taken everything he had. He could only hang there and watch.

…

The entire situation had finally been controlled. The Garden of Time would soon be sealed and all that was left was to bring in the criminal. And yet, Lindy could not restrain her curiosity.

"The lost capital, Al Hazard. We don't know if the hidden technology that lays there even exists. It's nothing more than a legend."

"You're wrong. Al Hazard exists within the gaps in dimensions." Precia scoffed at this woman's ignorance. "Once I shatter the dimensional space, a brilliant light will shine from that gap."

"The path to Al Hazard is certainly through that light!"

"That's an unlikely chance you're betting on." Lindy closed her eyes and shook her head lightly. She couldn't believe that Precia was causing this entire incident on finding a legend. "What do you even plan to do there?"

"You say you want to reclaim your lost time and rectify the mistakes of your past?"

"That's right. I will take it all back. The past and future that belongs to Alicia and I."

Precia turned back to the tube holding Alicia and pressed a hand against it. "It was never meant to be this way… not any bit of this world I am living in!"

"The world is always filled with things that were never meant to be!"

A ray of blue light pierced through one of the room's walls and out of the hole it created stood Chrono. The boy looked worse for wear. His outfit covered in rips and tears and a rather bad head wound was pouring blood over one of his eyes forcing it closed. Yet, even with the wounds covering his body, Chrono stood strong. His words cutting through the air aimed at the woman standing there that denied the world.

"Since long ago, at any time, or whoever's involved, that's how the world is!"

Precia stared back at the boy's words until another crash from the ceiling of the room. She watched as both Fate Testarossa and Arf fell into the room. More and more, her plans seemed to fall apart.

"Do you plan to run away from the reality that wasn't supposed to be, or will you face it? That is up to you. But no one has the right to interfere with other people's lives just because of their own selfish sadness!"

Silence reigned over the room. Chrono had said his piece but Precia Testarossa was silent. Finally, another hacking cough escaped her mouth as her body continued to fail.

"Mother!" Fate Testarossa moved forward.

…

Shirou groaned lightly as he shifted on the ground. It took him a moment to realize that the binds holding him in the air had run out and he had been dropped to the floor.

He tried to push himself back to his feet, but his arms wouldn't hold his own weight.

No, it wasn't that they wouldn't support his weight. It was that they couldn't.

He had swung swords the size of small buildings and had fought a mage at dizzying speed. None of these things are something that a child can do. His body had finally given out from the supernatural feats he had done.

His vision was half gone and his left eye is filled with blurs rather than images. He could feel his right arm trembling from the strain of pushing his body, but his left arm was numb.

He could hear the entire building groan as it was falling apart. The dimensional rift had finally grown to the point where the building could no longer hold itself together. It would fall apart and sink into the border between the realms.

Trembling arms continued to push against the floor. His body convulsed as it tried to maneuver into a position where he could stand. There is no more energy in his body. The magic that had been sustaining him, that power of desire had long been sealed. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to lie down and rest.

"I may be a doll that you created. However, I, Fate Testarossa, was born by you and raised by you. I am your daughter!"

He could hear them talking, that precious blonde girl that needed saving, and that horrible mother that needed to be defeated.

"So what?" Precia laughs at the heartfelt words spoken by Fate. "You expect me to think of you as my daughter now?"

Anger flashes weakly through Shirou's body. Again and again, she denies Fate.

"If you wish, I will protect you from anyone and anything in this world. Not because I am your daughter, but because you are _my_ mother."

"I'm not interested."

Shirou poured more and more strength into his arms. His knees nearly buckled as he pushed himself to a standing position. The shaking and crumbling ground wasn't making this any easier.

Shirou's eyes scanned the entire room. In the center was Precia, standing by Alicia's tube glaring defiantly at everyone else in the room. In front of her was Fate and Arf, Fate's expression was once again heartbroken.

Behind her, Shirou could faintly see Lindy and Chrono.

The room crumbled away and larger pieces of the ceiling crashed down all around him. The trembling He could hear Chrono and Lindy yelling out orders, calling out to both him and Fate.

"I am going to Al Hazard." Precia declared out to all of them. "I will regain everything. I will take back the single bit of happiness in my life."

Time seemed to slow down as the ground beneath Precia finally gave. Both she and the tube holding Alicia tilted as they started to fall.

No.

Not yet.

Precia still hadn't acknowledged Fate. He couldn't let her get away.

Shirou moved forward. He reached out to grab the falling woman. He could still reach her.

If he could just draw just a bit more magic he could reach her and jump back. He just needed a bit more!

But there was nothing left.

Shirou had just barely been able to stand. He could only stumble forward and reach desperately for the falling two as his legs refused to move any further.

Shirou screamed as he reached for the falling Precia.

They were right there!

Just a few more steps!

But those few steps made all the difference.

Precia Testarossa as well as Alicia Testarossa fell into the void between the dimensions.

Shirou lay on the ground stunned. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the woman and daughter fall. His mind had locked down at the sight.

"No…Nononono…" Shirou shook as he searched into the colorful chaos that was the dimensional void for any sight of Precia and Alicia. "No!"

Tears slowly made their way down Shirou's face as he realized the truth. That he had failed completely.

"Shirou!"

It was too much. It was all too much.

"Fate-chan!"

He couldn't stay conscious any longer. Too tired from everything that had just occurred, Emiya Shirou collapsed.

"Shirou!"

…

_The air was thick and heavy with smoke. All the buildings around him were ablaze, the people lying around him had been reduced to kindling as their bodies crumbled away into black ash._

_He walked forward, past it all._

_It was an aimless walk, but he knew that he needed to move forward to survive._

_But…_

_By going forwards he was abandoning those behind him. He had heard their cries. The desperate sounds growing silent the further he went_

_Eventually, he realized where he was. This was hell. A place where there was nobody to save them and a place where he could not save anyone. _

_He moved forward, hoping to escape, to survive. _

_He kept walking, one step after another._

_But it was not enough._

_He fell down. His body could no longer move forward. He had given it his all. He had used up everything. He couldn't even stand anymore._

_So he laid there, waiting for death to arrive. A single hand rose up into the air reaching for something that wasn't there._

_Then a miracle happened._

_A hand reached out and grasped his own._

_A man was leaning over him. His hand was burnt and bleeding, but it was there, he was there._

_The words poured in. The man was thanking him. Thanking him for holding on long enough. Thankful that there was someone still here._

_He looked up at the man that had grabbed his hand. This man that had appeared in this hell, and saw…_

_Happiness._

_A pure joy. All from finding someone to save._

_He had nothing. Everything was lost in the fire. _

_The man was smiling. Even in this hell, he was smiling because he saved someone._

_Was it so wrong then, that he envied that happiness?_

_…_

The Garden of Time had been set to fall into the dimensional space and the stress the building was put under was tearing it apart.

Fate watched her mother fall before her eyes and just as Shirou had, ignoring everything in the hope of finding her mother in the chaos that was below them.

None of the calls from the people around them reached them. They were frozen, separated by more than just space.

But time restarted as Nanoha blasted her way through the Garden into the throne room and called out for her friends.

Fate Testarossa heard the call. That girl that had been fighting her and trying to save her was calling out to her. She saw that same girl reaching out to her.

No, not only to her. She looked to her side at the boy that had fought so hard for her, to help her and save her. He was lying unconscious on the crumbling floor, exhausted from his own ordeal. She rushed over to his side and pulled him along with her.

That hand was reaching out to her. She took that hand, her salvation.

…

The mission had been a success. Though it had been a terribly close call, Chrono raised a hand to the bandage wrapped around his head. The head wound was rather shallow despite the amount of blood that had poured out of it, and the rest of the crew had mostly received similar wounds. They would need a bit of time to recover, but there was little permanent damage to anyone.

Well, almost anyone.

Chrono grimaced as he read through the preliminary diagnostic on Emiya Shirou. The boy was covered in bruises and small lacerations from shrapnel, there was plenty of damage to the boy's muscular system and his temperature would simply not drop no matter what they tried.

They had taken him into the infirmary and had the ship doctor set up a healing array around the boy. They would fix as much of the physical damage as they could.

The damage that they could not fix was the magical one.

The Jewel Seed was supposed to be contained by the Device that hung around Shirou's wrist. It was supposed to keep the Lost Logia from activating and maintain it in stasis. However, it was put together hastily and was a temporary solution at best.

The passive containment had failed completely and it was only thanks to the magical charge they had set in the Device to seal the Jewel Seed that they all weren't thrown into the gap between the dimensions that Precia had torn.

Even though the Jewel Seed had been sealed back into a dormant state, they were unsure of what it had done to Shirou. His magical talents were already a mystery and it seemed that the Jewel Seed had changed them after the initial reaction. They had no idea what a second reaction could cause.

Fire and steel. That was how the ferret and Takamachi described Emiya's reaction to the Jewel Seed.

It had responded by amplifying Emiya's magic. Projection, or shaping of magical energy into a false copy. Where it usually made an inert copy that was fragile and useless, Emiya was able to create weapons.

It was a baffling response, but they did not truly know much about the Jewel Seeds and their abilities. So far all of the other reactions had been from mundane objects or people and animals with little magic to no magical talent. The Lost Logia could simply react differently to magical energy like that. Especially to an unknown magic like Earth's Magecraft.

Chrono sighed and rubbed a hand against his temples. This was going to hell to report back at Headquarters.

The chart was thrown down into the piles of information that Chrono had requested for his report. S2U was picked up and slid into it's holder as he pushed himself away from his desk.

There would be time to finish the report later. For now, he had another shift in the infirmary with the ferret.

…

_The land was on fire. _

_The world was wavering. It had not yet been solidified. Its existence was there and not there. A paradox._

_A desolate land. A graveyard for those that had been lost. _

_A monument. A land worth chasing._

_It could not be both yet it was both._

_But there was something else. The land was not empty. The uneven land made of iron and blood, it was holding on to something._

_Those things wavering in the flames. _

_Imperfect things. They were worth nothing _

_But they still had meaning…_

_Didn't they?_

_He wondered_

_That wavering existence…_

_What worth did it have?_

…

The first thing that Emiya Shirou saw when he woke up was the dim ceiling of the Arthra infirmary.

The first thought that went through Emiya Shirou's mind was, '_God my head hurts.'_

It wasn't an elegant thought or a poignant statement that will be repeated decades after his story was done being told, but it fit his mindset.

"Ugh…"

A groggy check of his body told him that he was in one piece. Dressed in a thin hospital gown, he could feel several bandages on his body as well as a few stitches and there was an IV sticking out of his left arm. His body felt heavy too. It was like someone had pored lead into every one of his limbs.

He tried to push himself into a sitting position, but his right arm wouldn't budge. A quick look over showed Shirou the reason why.

Takamachi Nanoha had fallen asleep on it. The girl was sitting in a chair with half of her body collapsed onto the bed that he was laying on. Shirou blinked in complete confusion for a moment before the entire scene fell into place.

He had been hurt and Nanoha had stayed in the room. Judging from the pajamas that she was in, she had snuck into the room and fallen asleep there.

It took him another moment before he could recall why he was recovering in the infirmary again.

_The building was falling apart all around them. His limbs were torn and broken from pushing them beyond the limits of his body. It felt like someone had replaced the blood flowing in his veins with fire, he could not see straight and the tremendous pounding of his heart hurt his head, driving all thought from it._

_But through the haze and fire, he could still see them. The two people falling into the rift. _

_One trapped in a capsule, a girl with an incurable disease. She looked so much Fate. He did not know her at all. He had not known she existed before today. _

_The other was a mad woman, a raving parent that was trapped in the past. A woman that had just tortured him to get the Jewel Seed in him. A woman that tortured the girl next to him because she was a reminder of what she lost. _

_He knew it was stupid to want to save them. He did not know the girl and the woman had tried to kill him. But he couldn't help it. He wanted to save them._

_More than the torture that Precia had put him through, more than the metal that was slowly pushing the way through his body and more than the fire that was coursing through his body, not being able to save them was too painful. _

"Ugh." Nausea seeped into his body.

There are people you can save and people you cannot save. Kiritsugu had taught him that.

But those words sounded so hollow to him.

Shirou slowly pulled his hand out from under the sleeping Nanoha and shook it to return feeling to it. The girl moaned and shifted as her pillow was taken away from her. Shirou paused and for a moment he smiled softly at the girl below him. This probably wasn't the first time she did this either.

She shouldn't worry about him so much.

Then, the smile was gone. Shirou leaned back against the headboard of his bed.

It was too much, he realized. It was really too much.

He did not deserve that kind of worry. He did not deserve this girl losing sleep over him.

"What a waste." The bitter words tasted like ash in his mouth.

Shirou stared at Nanoha and wondered. What did she see?

What did she see that was worth worrying over?

…

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"No matter how many times you say it, we're still not letting you go Shirou."

"Come on, I'm just going to stretch my legs."

"No." Nanoha's rejection was quick and firm. "You need to rest. If I let my eyes off of you you're going to disappear again."

Yuuno shook his head as he heard them arguing again.

"Hey Yuuno." Shirou greeted him as he entered the room before turning back to Nanoha. "You don't know that."

Nanoha pouted at Shirou and turned to Yuuno for support.

Yuuno walked over to the free chair next to Nanoha. "You said that last time and we found you holding pieces of machinery to help out one of the engineers, and the time before that when you went to use the bathroom we found you helping Amy out in the kitchen."

Really, was the term bed rest that hard to understand? "Your injuries were pretty severe, Shirou. You can't just do whatever you feel like."

"But I'm fine!" Shirou whined. He felt okay. There were still some aches and pains from his wounds but nothing life threatening. "I don't need to sit around and rest. I need to get out of this stupid room!"

"Too bad." Nanoha was tired of chasing down Shirou and making sure he rested. She was just one incident away from taking out Raising Heart and binding Shirou to his bed.

Yuuno sighed but ended up smiling at the duo. They had all been scared to death when Shirou had been pulled into the Arthra. He looked so pale and he was covered in wounds. Various pieces of metal were sticking out of his body and he would not react to anything they did.

They had immediately pulled him into surgery, but even after stabilizing the boy, he did not wake up. The entire ordeal had finally taken its toll on Shirou and now he had to deal with the damage, both physical and mental.

Fate and Arf were pulled into a cell for holding. Nanoha was taken in along with Chrono to have their wounds healed while Yuuno ran around helping as many soldiers as he could with his own healing spells.

Eventually, after the immediately crisis was taken care of, they had still gone their separate ways for the time being.

Chrono had to write up the report for the incident as well as manage the repairs to the Arthra. Yuuno was helping out in the infirmary. Finally, Nanoha simply waited for any news about Fate or kept an eye on the recovering Shirou.

It seemed like they were all drifting along in separate worlds despite the fact that they were all on the same ship. That had all changed once Shirou had woken up.

Like a spark that lit up a wildfire, he had once again pulled the ship into chaos as a routine check up on the comatose boy revealed an empty room and a missing patient.

Lindy had nearly turned the entire ship upside down ordering everyone to find Shirou. They had worried about what Shirou would do when he woke up and they expected the worst.

They did not expect him to be sitting in the core of the ship, bringing out tools for the engineers that were repairing the engine.

They had dragged him back to the infirmary and gave him a physical. While there were still some injuries that were lingering, he was in surprisingly good shape. They wanted him to rest however, as they were worried about his mental state.

Shirou would have none of that. He attempted to sneak out of his room everyday and they found him helping out around the ship more times than seeing him resting in his bed. It had gotten to the point where the crew had started a betting pool on how long Shirou could work around the ship without getting dragged back into his room by Nanoha.

"Hey Yuuno." Shirou's voice broke the silence once again. His voice was quiet, but Yuuno could hear the hesitation in it.

"What are you planning to do after all this?"

"What do you mean?" Yuuno was surprised by the question.

"I mean. We solved the whole Jewel Seed thing, right?" Shirou scratched his cheek as he tried to explain his own question. "So what are you going to do now?"

Yuuno quickly realized what Shirou was trying to ask. He had originally come to Earth to seal the Lost Logia that he had found. It was really to appease his sense of responsibility. But, the problem was taken care of now.

"I'm going to stay on Earth for a bit." Yuuno smiled at the delighted surprise from both Nanoha and Shirou. "There are still some things that I need to finish, so I'm not going to leave just yet."

"So I guess its back to the ferret bed for you, huh?" Shirou chuckled lightly.

"I… I guess." Yuuno had actually forgotten to ask Nanoha if he could still stay with her. It had slipped his mind with everything that had happened to them. "I hadn't actually asked Nanoha yet, but-"

"It's fine." Nanoha smiled brightly at Yuuno. "Yuuno-kun is welcome at my house. I'm sure everyone would be sad if you disappeared suddenly."

"Ah. Thank you." Yuuno returned the smile.

"I guess Miyuki-san would be pretty sad if Yuuno disappeared, huh?" Shirou tilted his head as he recalled how taken the older girl was with Yuuno's ferret form.

"Gee, thanks." Yuuno glowered at Shirou.

"What? She would." Shirou defended himself. "She tries to take you everywhere."

"Um!" Nanoha agreed with him. "I'm sure Alisa-chan and Suzuka-chan would be sad too."

"That doesn't exactly make me feel better, Nanoha." Yuuno hung his head. It wasn't that he disliked his ferret form, but the attention it got him got old rather quickly.

"Ah!" Nanoha waved her hands in front of her quickly, "I mean, we would miss Yuuno-kun a lot too."

The room was filled with laughter as the children talked, the looming worries forgotten, if only for a moment.

…

"So I guess this is goodbye." Shirou stood next to Nanoha on the Arthra's gate as they said their goodbyes.

"Yes. Once more, thank you for all you've done during this incident." Lindy smiled at all of them.

"We're grateful for your cooperation." Chrono shook both of their hands before backing up.

"I'll contact you when Fate's verdict is in. I'm sure it'll be fine, though. I promise nothing bad will happen to her." Chrono reassured them both.

"Right." Nanoha smiled and thanked Chrono.

"And Yuuno-kun. If you want to head back to your home world, just let us know." Lindy added.

"Of course. Thank you." Yuuno had already reverted to his ferret form and thanked Lindy from Nanoha's shoulder.

Amy finished setting up the gate and smiled sadly at the three of them. "Then I guess it's time."

"Right. I'll see you all soon, Chrono-san, Lindy-san, Amy-san." Nanoha smiled brightly at each of them.

Shirou caught Chrono's eye and they shared a look before nodding to each other.

The light of the gate forced them to close their eyes as the transportation magic returned them back home.

When Shirou opened his eyes he found them in the park by Nanoha's house. Shirou smiled at the familiar sight. This was the same park they had that first conversation with Yuuno just a few weeks ago.

"It's been a while." Shirou smiled at the familiar sight.

"Yes." Nanoha nodded while looking around at the park along with him. The Arthra was nice, but there was something refreshing about being back home.

"Now, let's go home." Nanoha smiled at Shirou. It had taken a while but they were almost home.

"Right." Shirou took a step forward before a hand grabbed the back of his collar and started dragging him back. "Ack, Nanoha!"

"We can have a celebration at my house. I'm sure my mom'll cook your favorite and we can even have some cake afterwards." She paused for a moment before turning to the ferret that was on her shoulder. Yuuno watched Shirou struggle with a sweat drop developing on the back of his head. "Ah, and I'll be sure to sneak you a lot of food Yuuno-kun."

"Ah, thank you." Yuuno shook his head and ignored Shirou's cries for help.

"Nanoha!" Shirou tried to wriggle out of her grasp but the girl just continued to drag him along while chatting with Yuuno.

…

The days passed by and Shirou fell back into his daily routine. It was amazing how little had changed.

Kiritsugu had been home the day he got back and received Shirou with a smile. He was as tired and unkempt as always. Shirou had grilled his old man on where he had disappeared to, but the man had simply given him a sad smile and gave him the same answer he always did; business.

Shirou didn't believe him but accepted the answer as always.

The next morning had come and Shirou headed back to school for the first time in weeks. He slipped quietly into class and settled into his seat.

"I'm back." Nanoha called out as she entered the class room.

Shirou smiled as Alisa and Suzuka enthusiastically greeted Nanoha. The trio chattered for a moment before Nanoha smiled and pointed straight at him. Shirou waved as the trio moved over to him.

"Well, don't we get an 'I'm back?'" Shirou was surprised when Alisa loomed over him.

"W-what?" Shirou stuttered as he scooted his chair back to get some room in between them.

"Hmph. We've been worried about the both of you, you know." Alisa crossed her arms as Suzuka slid behind her and nodded. "You and Nanoha disappear for days again and you don't even say a word to us when you get back?"

"I… Well, I just didn't think that, well, you would miss me." Shirou scratched his cheek. "I mean, we don't really-"

"Grr." That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Alisa growled at him before throwing her arms into the air. "Forget it!"

Suzuka giggled as Alisa ran over to Nanoha ranting. "She was worried about you when you went missing, you know."

"Really?" Shirou rubbed the back of his head. Alisa and Suzuka were more of Nanoha's friends than his. He was a little surprised that they had worried about him.

"Really. Welcome back, Shirou-san." Suzuka smiled brightly at him before disappearing to chase after Nanoha and Alisa.

"I'm back…" Shirou muttered to himself with a small smile. He closed his eyes before turning to look out the window into the clear blue sky.

It was a new day. He had to make the most of it. The memories of this experience would follow him. And even if the regrets made him want to cry, he had to push them aside and step forward.

For right now, the sky was still out of reach.

But that didn't mean they would be forever. If he stepped forward, there should be a day where he could reach out and grab it.

"Shirou!" Nanoha called out and waved at him to come over.

"I'll be right there." He gave the blue sky a last glance before going to join his friends.

…

"So it's all settled." Shirou leaned against the railing as he watched Nanoha and Fate speak to each other from the other side of the pier. He smiled at the happy duo.

"Fate will be taken into the TSAB's main office and undergo a trial, but we're sure that she'll receive a light sentence." Chrono summarized. "There should be no problems after that."

"Good." Shirou was relieved that Fate was going to be okay. "If you guys need any thing for the trial..."

"We'll be fine." Chrono turned back to Shirou who recognized the transition. "But we also have another problem."

"Eh?" Shirou's eyes widened before narrowing. "What do you need?"

"Nothing serious." Chrono shook his head before continuing. "There's still the issue of the Jewel Seed inside of you."

"Ah." Shirou raised the bracer that was attached to his arm to eye level. "This thing."

Chrono nodded. "Yes. The Lost Logia is a dangerous and volatile artifact that needs to be contained. That Device is doing that job, but it's inadequate."

Shirou nodded as he recalled both the hazy recollection of fire and steel from the first activation as well as the Garden of Time. "So what are you going to do?"

"Right now, nothing." Seeing the look of surprise on Shirou's face, Chrono explained. "We don't have the tools or the resources to build anything more sophisticated and extraction doesn't seem to be an option right now. So we're going to return to base and report. We should be able to get a team to look at the problem. The best case scenario is that they get the Jewel Seed out of your body."

"And the worst?" Shirou couldn't help but ask.

"We don't know. The Lost Logia are unpredictable."

"Right." That was reassuring. Shirou looked down at the white bracer on his arm. It was hard to believe that such a small thing was holding back the Jewel Seed.

"But back to the matter at hand." Chrono looked Shirou straight in the eye who gulped at the serious look on the older boy's face. "I want you to keep from using magic until we get back."

"What?" Shirou shouted in dismay.

"We're unsure of what affects the Jewel Seed but your magic may be one of those things. Until we have a better idea of what is going on inside of you, do not use magic. I don't particularly like it, but we are trusting you to keep the Lost Logia contained."

"Right." Shirou could understand the concern, even if it did not feel right to him. He had used Magecraft before and nothing had happened. There had to have been something else there.

"Shirou." Shirou looked up and swallowed at the sight of Chrono glaring at him. "The TSAB is placing a lot of trust in you. Do not betray that trust."

There was a promise in that statement. If the Jewel Seed did activate again, Shirou doubted he would get off as easy as he was now. He had no doubt that Chrono himself would make sure that he was no longer a threat.

"R-right." Shirou swallowed hard as he recalled just how easily Chrono dispatched an entire army of giant attack robots.

"Shirou!" Both Shirou and Chrono turned to see Nanoha waving at them. "Come over here and say goodbye to Fate-chan!"

"Ah, I'll be right there." Shirou called back. He turned back to Chrono and nodded to show his understanding before running towards Nanoha and Fate. He stopped next to them and gave them an odd look as they both had their hair down. The ribbons that held their hair were absent.

He looked closer and noticed both Fate and Nanoha had puffy red eyes. They had been crying. Shirou felt a bit uncomfortable, but reassured himself that they were smiling right now.

"This is Emiya Shirou, you can just call him Shirou." Nanoha cheerfully introduced him to Fate.

"Eh? Doesn't she already know my name?" Shirou had only just entered the conversation and he was confused. "And don't give other people permission to use my name like that. It's rude."

Nanoha playfully stuck out her tongue at him. Shirou sighed before turning to face Fate and swallowed as a flood of memories hit him. Everything from the first time he saw her, the promise he made and her final confrontation with Precia.

"I'm sorry." Whispered the crestfallen Shirou.

"Eh?" Fate's own introduction and request for friendship like Nanoha taught her fell short at the odd interruption. "Sorry?"

"Yes. I promised you something and I…" Shirou closed his eyes and pressed on. "I could not help you. For that I'm sorry."

He finished the heartfelt apology with a deep bow. A little startled by the display and confused by the act, Fate looked at Nanoha for advice. The brunette however was no help at all as she stared at Shirou's bowed head with a look of sadness in them.

"Ah…" Fate felt even more confusion about this boy. He promised her that he would save her when they were enemies, he cries for her before and now he was apologizing for something he had no control over. "Shirou-san?"

Shirou raised his head slightly to look at Fate.

"I… then let's be friends." Fate smiled at him.

"Eh?" Shirou straightened up and stared at Fate in confusion.

"I will come back and when I do, I want us to be friends." Fate wanted to know more about this enigma of a boy. "Please."

"Of course!" Shirou agreed instantly. "I'll definitely be your friend."

"Then you don't need to apologize." Shirou wanted to protest, but the smile on Fate's face stopped him. It was such a beautiful and stunning smile that it left him breathless for just a moment.

"Okay." Shirou relented and smiled back at her. If such a simple thing would make her happy, then he had no right to deny her that.

The three of them chatted for a few moments before the time to say goodbye had finally come. Chrono, Arf and Yuuno moved to join them.

"Take care of yourself, boy." Said Arf as she dropped Yuuno on top of Shirou's head, causing him to squawk in surprise.

"Arf-san!" Nanoha greeted the familiar. "You are going to take care of yourself too, right?"

"Of course." Arf ruffled Nanoha's hair before smiling down at the girl that had allowed Fate to smile. "Once again, thank you. All of you."

Shirou just shrugged off the thanks but smiled at the happiness on Arf's face.

"Then, we'll be going." Their goodbyes over with, Chrono was the first to move to the sigil that held their Transport spell. Fate and Arf moved next to him and waved as the magic warped them back to the Arthra.

They had to part for now, but they would see each other again. He could only hope that it would be on happier terms.

…

He couldn't sleep. It was the night after Fate had left and Shirou found himself wide awake.

Shirou waited until the house was completely silent before he carefully slipped out of his bed and snuck out of the room. He made his way through the dark house and headed out to the backyard.

Standing in the center of the room he closed his eyes and exhaled. He had plenty of time to reflect when he was trapped in the infirmary of the Arthra. The transition back to his daily life had distracted him momentarily, but it was time to get back on track.

He was still weak.

He had fought Precia. It was a blurry memory. Flashes of light and steel. But he recalled that he could not harm the woman.

_The twin swords were halted by a thin wall of blue light just in front of Precia. Shirou's eyes widened for the briefest moment before he was pulled away by the instincts within the swords._

It wasn't enough just to get stronger. There was no amount of physical strength that could have helped him in that moment. He had pushed himself to the limits of the human body.

"Trace on." Shirou whispered the spell and focused within him.

The twin swords appeared into Shirou's empty hands. They were a perfect copy of the originals.

They were weapons that were beyond him. Even now he could see it. The history behind the sword was beautiful. A blur of steel and blood. An assassin of the highest quality wielded these swords once, and now Shirou could imitate that same skill.

But it wasn't enough.

The two swords faded away into nothing.

He needed a weapon that was beyond even those swords. He needed a flawless weapon that would not yield to anything, not to magic nor to steel.

Shirou closed his eyes.

He could see them. Countless possibilities all embedded in the ground.

He looked past them. Each one was powerful, but they were not the right one. A weapon that would fit him, that was what he was seeking.

He could almost see it.

It was right there, the concept, the structure, the materials, the process, the-

*PSSSSSHHHHHHH*

"Argh!" A crushing pressure erupted inside his brain. His eyes swam with static as his brain could no longer keep up with the information flooding his mind. His body fell to the floor as it tore itself from the inside out.

Another failure. That was the thought that passed through Emiya Shirou's mind as he lay on the floor.

But that was fine. He was used to failure. He would keep trying over and over again, until it was perfect.

Shirou slowly pushed his trembling body back up. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Projection… Start."

The night sky was silent in Uminari City. But if you listened closely you could almost hear the sound of a hammer. Forging alone in a world yet to come.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Arc one of the Mahou Senki Saga, Lyrical Days, is done. <em>

_Look forward to the next arc, War of the Knight Sky._


End file.
